+ A
A -
AFP
LOUISVILLE
THOUSANDS of people lined the streets of Muhammad Ali's hometown Louisville on Friday to say goodbye to the boxing legend and civil rights hero, who mesmerized the world with his dazzling skills in the ring.
A funeral procession through town, a private burial and a public memorial service will wrap up two days of tributes to the three-time heavyweight world champion, who died last week at 74 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
Starting at 10:30 am (1430 GMT), a hour later than originally scheduled, the funeral procession started to wind through the city of 600,000 in the southern US state of Kentucky where Ali was born at a time of racial segregation.
The cortege will pass by sites that were important to"The Greatest": his childhood home, the Ali Center, the Center for African American Heritage -- which focuses on the lives of blacks in Kentucky -- and, of course, along Muhammad Ali Boulevard before arriving at the Cave Hill Cemetery for a hero's burial.
Spectators lined the streets, taking photos and chanting Ali's name. Some waiting near Ali's boyhood home carried signs and flowers in tribute to the boxing legend.
"The kids love him, he's always stood for hope in this neighborhood. For the youth here, he is an example," Toya Johnson, who wore an Ali T-shirt, told AFP.
Born Cassius Clay in 1942, the boxer won Olympic gold and went on to a glorious professional career, with his epic fights -- like the"Rumble in the Jungle" with George Foreman and the"Thrilla in Manila" with Joe Frazier -- now the stuff of sports legend.
He shocked America by refusing to serve in Vietnam, a decision that cost him his title and his career for years. He earned scorn for his incendiary comments about his opponents, once calling Frazier a"gorilla."
But Ali later earned global respect as a civil rights activist who preached religious tolerance, and for his public battle with a disease that ravaged his once powerful body.
