Update | Muhammad Ali's final journey: 100,000 mourners gather to pay tribute to 'The Greatest'
Ali himself decided years ago that his funeral would be open to ordinary fans, not just VIPs - as a result, thousands of free tickets were made available.
Muhammad Ali made his final journey through his hometown Friday — past the little pink house where he grew up and the museum that bears his name — as an estimated 100,000 mourners along the route pumped their fists and chanted, “Ali! Ali!” for the former heavyweight champion of the world known simply as The Greatest.
A hearse bearing Ali’s cherry-red casket, draped in an Islamic tapestry, arrived at Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery in a long line of black limousines after a 19-mile drive via Muhammad Ali Boulevard that was both sombre and exuberant.
Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, took the stage at her husband’s memorial to thunderous chants. In her first public remarks since his death, she talked about how Ali wanted to be remembered after his passing.
“Muhammad indicated that when the end came for him, he wanted to use his life and his death as a teaching moment. He wanted to remind people who are suffering that he had seen the face of injustice,” she said. “He never became bitter enough to quit or engage in violence.”
She reminded those listening that his message still resonates. She says he was prepared to sacrifice all he had, all that he was, to follow his soul. She also recalled the Louisville police officer who first taught a young Ali how to box when his bicycle was stolen when he was 12.
“Joe Martin handed young Cassius Clay the keys to a future in boxing he could scarcely have imagined.
