Ali funeral scheduled for Friday after procession

6:41 PM ET

Muhammad Ali’s funeral will be held Friday in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and will be preceded by a public procession.

Bob Gunnell, a spokesman for Ali’s family, announced the funeral arrangements Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the three-time heavyweight boxing champion and sports icon died at the age of 74.

Gunnell said Ali died at 12:10 a.m. ET Saturday from septic shock due to unspecified natural causes. Ali spent the last hour of his life surrounded by his family after initially being hospitalized in the Phoenix area on Monday.

Editor’s PicksAli remains an inspiration to generations of fighters

As long as there are boxers, they will undoubtedly discover Muhammad Ali and continue to be inspired by the one simply called “The Greatest.”

Collins: Was Ali really ‘The Greatest’?

Muhammad Ali was “The Greatest” because he said he was, lived his life accordingly and convinced the world it was true.

Muhammad Ali blazed path for many NBA players

More than any other sport, basketball players took the late boxer’s stylistic flourishes and ran, jumped and dunked with it.

2 Related

The family “certainly believes that Muhammad was a citizen of the world … and they know that the world grieves with him,” Gunnell said.

A procession starting at 9 a.m. ET on Friday will carry Ali’s body down an avenue that bears his name, through his boyhood neighborhood and down Broadway, the scene of the parade that honored the brash young man — then known as Cassius Clay — for his gold medal at the 1960 Olympics.

After the procession, a memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET at the KFC Yum! Center, and also will be open to the public. Eulogies will be given by former President Bill Clinton, Billy Crystal — who famously has done a masterful impression of Ali — and Bryant Gumbel.

The ceremony will be led by an imam in the Muslim tradition but will include representatives of other faiths. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch will represent Mormons.

“Muhammad Ali was clearly the people’s champion,” Gunnell said, “and the celebration will reflect his devotion to people of all races, religions and backgrounds.”

Gunnell said that Ali “did not suffer” in the hours prior to his death and described Ali’s final moments with his family as “solemn” but “beautiful.”

Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston to retain the heavyweight title in May 1965. It was one of his 56 career wins as a professional. AP Photo/John Rooney

“The champ would have been proud of his family,” Gunnell said.

Hana Ali, one of Ali’s daughters, also described her father’s last moments in a social media post earlier Saturday, saying his heart continued to beat for about 30 minutes after all of his other organs failed. She wrote on her Instagram and Twitter accounts that “no one had even seen anything like it.”

In …

continue reading in source espn.go.com