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Post by Admin on Jun 4, 2016 22:45:52 GMT
He was fast of fist and foot - lip, too - a heavyweight champion who promised to shock the world and did. He floated. He stung. Mostly he thrilled, even after the punches had taken their toll and his voice barely rose above a whisper.  Muhammad Ali died Friday at age 74, according to a statement from the family. He was hospitalized in the Phoenix area with respiratory problems earlier this week, and his children had flown in from around the country. ''It's a sad day for life, man. I loved Muhammad Ali, he was my friend. Ali will never die,'' Don King, who promoted some of Ali's biggest fights, told The Associated Press early Saturday. ''Like Martin Luther King his spirit will live on, he stood for the world.'' One of Ali's daughters described her father's last moments in an Instagram post, saying his heart wouldn't stop beating for 30 minutes after all of his other organs failed. Hana Ali said the family was surrounding her father, hugging and kissing him, holding his hands and chanting an Islamic prayer, while his heart kept beating as his other organs gave out. ''No one had even seen anything like it. A true testament to the strength of his Spirit and Will!'' she wrote.  |
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Post by Admin on Jun 6, 2016 22:50:41 GMT
Ali's death on Friday made the internet flourish with the moments that made him a transcending icon.  Everywhere you turned, there were videos of his greatest fights, stories, anecdotes and memories of how he affected individuals and countries alike. And, of course, the photos that you've seen thousands of times before. The photos that you visualize whenever someone mentions the name Ali. The knockouts. The poses. The staredowns. Those photos speak volumes and bring back an emotional connection that remind you of the life of Ali. But you haven't seen anything yet. This won't be just another photo gallery of Ali. These are the moments the world might have missed.  Ali, then Clay, sporting a porter's cap, mugs it up while showing his name on fight card to porter Herbert Sims here on March 6, 1963. Ali vowed he would flatten his opponent, Doug Jones, when they met in Madison Square Garden on March 13. Ali won the bout by unanimous decision, and it was named The Ring's Fight of the Year.   |
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Post by Admin on Jun 11, 2016 22:45:48 GMT
Muhammad Ali made his final journey through his hometown Friday in a funeral procession for The Greatest as thousands of mourners lined the streets where the future heavyweight champion of the world once chased school buses in hiking boots to train for his fights.  His cherry-red casket, draped in an Islamic shroud, was loaded into a hearse as a group of pallbearers that included former boxers Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and actor Will Smith left the funeral home in a double file. Ali's nine children, his wife, two of his ex-wives and other family members joined the motorcade. The 17-car motorcade set out for a Louisville cemetery on a 19-mile route that was expected to take Ali's body past his boyhood home, the gym where he first learned to box and the museum that bears his name, by way of Muhammad Ali Boulevard.  Fans chanted "Ali! Ali!" like spectators at one of his fights, pumped their fists, stood on cars, held up cellphones, signs and T-shirts, tossed flowers and scattered rose petals as the champ went by. Truckers honked their horns in salute. Others looked on quietly and reverently.  |
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