The body of three-time heavyweight champion and outspoken civil rights activist, Muhammad Ali, has arrived in his hometown of Louisville – where he’ll be laid to rest. An airplane carrying his casket, which was wrapped in a black cloth bearing Arabic scripture in gold on it, arrived from Arizona, ahead of a public funeral procession and service expected to draw huge crowds.
The Ali’ Family spokesman Bob Gunnell says his body was accompanied by his wife, Lonnie, and other family members and friends. Once the body was offloaded, Police escorted the casket from the airport to the funeral home.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali died of “septic shock due to unspecified natural causes”, his family has said.
The three-time world heavyweight champion – one of the world’s greatest sporting figures – died on Friday night at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.
The 74-year-old had been suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.
A public funeral will be held for the boxer on Friday in his hometown of Louisville in Kentucky.
“He was a citizen of the world and would want people from all walks of life to be able to attend his funeral,” said the family spokesman, Bob Gunnell.
Former US President Bill Clinton is among those who will give a eulogy at the service, and was one of many prominent global figures who paid tribute to Ali on Saturday, saying he lived a life “full of religious and political convictions that led him to make tough choices and live with the consequences”.
The legendary Brazilian footballer, Pele, said the sporting universe had suffered a huge loss.
“Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it,” said US President Barack Obama