Family spokesperson Bob Gunnell confirmed Ali’s body will arrive back in the city with family in 24 to 48 hours.
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Muhammad Ali’s heartbroken family members shared details about the boxing legend’s final quiet moments in a Phoenix-area hospital yesterday and opened his funeral to the world as a tribute to the icon’s solidarity with people across the globe. Ali defied the military draft at the height of the Vietnam War and lost 3½ years from the prime of his career.
“I am the greatest”.
Gunnell said that per his wishes, there will be a procession throughout the streets of his hometown in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, followed by a public ceremony at 2 p.m. that will be live streamed and translated. “They just kept building it up and building it up, and no one knew who it was”.
FOREMAN: Muhammad Ali and I fought once.
“He inspired me. I loved the way he talked”, said Jake Smith. At that point, Ali was 30 and Joe Frazier was the heavyweight champion of the world.
“Muhammad Ali had a different presence”.
Ali had been hospitalized multiple times in recent years.
While Muhammad Ali conquered many things in life, he could never conquer Parkinson’s. The small act of diplomacy showed China’s new government (and the US) that it was willing to engage with the West. Ali also helped end China’s 20-year ban on boxing. “He’s the greatest”, patients in the video said.
Mandela’s favorite book at his office – where there was a photo of the two men together – was an autographed copy of an Ali biography, the organisation said.
“He is the legend”, he said.
Ireland’s ceremonial head of state called Ali a man of “wit, grace and beauty” who “brought his message of freedom and respect for people of all races to all the continents of the world”.
“Just to see him in the village, with all the sports stars you do see in there, he was probably the biggest”.
Retired NBA all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar praised Ali’s courage in fighting discrimination.
“I was so tuned in on Muhammad Ali as a kid”, said Long, who is now promoting an upcoming June 17 fight card at Scranton’s Steamtown Mall.
They were young and old, black and white, friends and fans.
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Russo, 61, a promoter, trainer and owner of Portland Boxing Club, said Saturday that he knew that night he’d seen something special.
