The Greatest Goodbye

[Tony2005]

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 74.


The boxing legend and three-time world heavyweight champion, who had battled Parkinson's disease for 32 years, was admitted to hospital with a respiratory condition earlier in the week.

His family's spokesman Bob Gunnell confirmed Ali's death in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday evening.

The funeral will take place in Ali's home town of Louisville, Kentucky.

A statement from the spokesman said the Ali family "would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and support" and asked for privacy.

Ali, hailed as "The Greatest", is survived by his fourth wife Lonnie - whom he married in 1986 - and multiple children, many of whom were reported to have flown to their father's bedside on Thursday and Friday.

He had been admitted to hospital most recently in early 2015 when he was treated for a severe urinary tract infection initially diagnosed as pneumonia.

At his last public appearances, he looked increasingly frail, including on April 9 when he wore sunglasses and was hunched over at the annual Celebrity Fight Night dinner in Phoenix, which raises funds for Parkinson's treatment.

Ali has suffered from Parkinson's for three decades and trembled badly while lighting the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta.

[bennythedip2]

Yes R I P - Muhammad Ali -
I remember when he made this speech and thought at that time;
Yes well said, why would he go to join a war that was created by the 'Corporations' !

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?
No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.
This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars.
But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.
I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”
- Muhammad Ali.

Yes a true gentleman RIP Sir