“He floats like a butterfly, I can remember that, having bad times, and hearing him say that and knowing I can rise above anything”.
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Ali’s father, Cassius Clay Sr., a painter, was a member of King Solomon before his death decades ago. Also, Lonnie had reportedly forced Ali’s brother Rahaman out of the family home and into a flat. He painted a mural of Jesus’ baptism that hangs still behind the pulpit.
Former presidents, heads of nations, movie stars and sports legends will pay tribute to Muhammad Ali at a memorial Friday.
Arum, 84, recalled that Ali strode onto the world stage in the mid-1960s, at a time when African Americans were still fighting for basic civil rights.
The solace he found Sunday morning, he said, was the Ali’s suffering was finally over.
Muhammad Ali sometimes accompanied his father to the church, even after the boxer had announced his conversion to Islam.
“This was dated December the 7th, 1978”, Gray said while holding a proclamation, changing the name of a five-mile stretch of road in the heart of Ali’s hometown of Louisville. “At fights he was booed because they felt that he was too outspoken”, he said. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Muslim, a Christian, or a Jew.
“He was the people’s champ and so he wanted that memorial service to reflect that”, family spokesman Bob Gunnell said.
“For almost two years, I worked to transform myself into the man who changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and shook up the world, and that’s really what makes my job so attractive”, he added. “Dr. Muhammad Babar pondered who, without Ali, might testify for our innocence in this season of witch hunting”.
Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino world boxing champ of his time, captured Ali’s role best: “Boxing benefitted from Muhammad Ali’s talents, but not almost as much as mankind benefited from his humanity”.
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Hundreds of people have already left flowers, messages and other tributes at the Muhammad Ali Center, a museum and cultural center in Louisville. “My son is a spitting image of my father when he was young”, she said. But he surprised her. “He was a spoiler”, she said with a laugh. “He told me to give him that look like on the films and say, ‘You’ve got 10 minutes to get out of town!’ and I couldn’t do it (because) I was laughing (so much)”.
