Safari ya Mwisho ya Mohamed Ali [picha]

[Shadow]

'The Greatest' comes home: Muhammad Ali's body arrives in Louisville as hundreds flock to his childhood home to pay tribute

• The three-time heavyweight champion and outspoken civil rights activist died on Friday night at age 74
• On Sunday, his body returned home to Louisville, where the boxing great will be laid to rest on Friday
• He was accompanied from Arizona, where he died, by his wife Lonnie, and other family members and friends
• Politicians, celebrities and fans are expected for a massive memorial service that Ali planned himself
• After a small family funeral, Ali's coffin will be transported through the streets of Louisville, before a private burial

The three-time heavyweight champion (pictured above, in 1962) and outspoken civil rights activist died on Friday night at age 74 after health problems complicated by a long battle with Parkinson's disease

Muhammad Ali's body has arrived in his hometown of Louisville - ahead of a public funeral procession and service expected to draw huge crowds in honor of 'The Greatest' on Friday. Above, his casket is seen being loaded into a hearse at Louisville International Airport

A private plane carrying the boxing great's body arrived in Louisville from Arizona, where he died, at around 4.30pm on Sunday

Police escorted the casket carrying Ali's body from the airport to AD Porter and Sons Funeral Home on Bardstown Road in Louisville

Muhammad Ali is seen raising his fists for the final time in these photographs from his final shoot taken by photographer Zenon Texeira

Hundreds of fans flocked to Ali's childhood home (above) on Sunday, which was recently renovated and turned into a museum

A man carries a photo of Ali outside the boxing legend's childhood home on Grand Avenue, which was recently turned into a museum

Dorothy Poynter, who grew up with Muhammad Ali in the neighborhood, walks past his childhood home in Louisville on Sunday. 'It's good, a good neighborhood. We were all so proud of him,' she said

Friends of Muhammad Ali, who died at the age of 74 on Friday, gather to pay respects at Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky

Michael Cowden, a longtime friend of Ali, shows off pictures from their high school year book as he pays his respects at Ali Center

A memorial has grown outside the Muhammad Ali Center, a downtown museum that promotes his humanitarian ideals and showcases his remarkable career

Janice Walls visits the boyhood home of the late Muhammad Ali in Louisville, Kentucky. Born Cassius Clay, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, dubbed as 'The Greatest,' died on Friday

Ali's brother, Rahaman Ali (pictured), arrived just before the 11.30am service to join the mourners at the King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church. He raised his arms in the air during an emotional service

Rahaman recalled what Ali was like as a boy named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., long before he became the most famous man in the world, celebrated as much for his grace and his words as his lightning-fast feet and knockout punch

The brothers - Muhammad (right) and Rahaman (left) - stand alongside the boxer's wife Lonnie (right in hat) during a dedication to his training center in 2005

Trump and Ali were friends for decades, and Ali even attended Trump’s 2005 wedding to his current wife, Melania. They are seen here in 2001

Will Smith will be a pallbearer at Muhammad Ali's funeral after playing the late boxing legend in movie

• Canadian-born boxer Lennox Lewis will help carry Muhammad Ali's coffin
• Lewis was the last man to be undisputed world heavyweight champion
• Ali will be laid to rest in his native Louisville, Kentucky after the service
• According to friends, he had been planning his funeral for 10 years

By REUTERS

Actor Will Smith will be among the pallbearers for Muhammad Ali's funeral on Friday (pictured together in 2003)

• Smith played Ali in the 2001 movie of the same name, earning an Oscar nomination and becoming a family friend

Legend: One of the transcendent figures of the 20th century, Ali died on Friday at age 74

Friends and relatives gathered in Muhammad Ali's home neighbourhood to discuss the legend's passing

Ali, who suffered from Parkinson's disease for many years, and his family had planned his funeral for a decade.

Official events start with a private ceremony on Thursday, followed by an Islamic service for the public at Freedom Hall, where he defeated Willi Besmanoff on November 29, 1961. The service will be led by Imam Zaid Shakir of California.

Initially, it had been planned for Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan and the King of Jordan to both speak at the service, but they have both been removed from the roster.

On Friday, Ali's family will gather for prayers, to be followed by the funeral procession through Louisville. The route will include a boulevard bearing Ali's name on the way to the Cave Hill Cemetery.

Members of the public will be able to commemorate Ali at the venue where he made his professional debut

Ali was insistent that not only the great and the good should be able to attend his funeral

Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer, spoke to the crowds gathered at a community memorial for Muhammad Ali

The main service will take place at the KFC Yum! Center on Friday afternoon, when Clinton and Crystal are scheduled to deliver eulogies.

In addition, Fischer announced an 'I Am Ali' Festival on Wednesday with programming for children.

For years, the plan was to have Ali's body lie in repose at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Gunnell said. That tribute was dropped at the last minute because his wife, Lonnie, worried it would cause the center to be shut down and knew people would want to gather there in grief.

In its place, a miles-long procession was added that will carry Ali's body across his beloved hometown. It will drive past the museum built in his honor, along the boulevard named after him and through the neighborhood where he grew up, raced bicycles and shadowboxed down the streets.

Neighbours gathered to remember the late boxing champion who will be laid to rest later this week

Floral tributes were left near where Ali was born as well as a pair of boxing gloves

Friends, fans and relatives have gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, in advance of the great man's funeral

In a city accustomed to capturing the world's attention for just two minutes during the Kentucky Derby each year, Ali's memorial service Friday looms as one of the most historic events in Louisville's history. Former presidents, heads of nations from around the globe, movie stars and sports greats will descend upon the city to pay final respects to The Louisville Lip.

'It's been a really bittersweet time for our city,' Mayor Greg Fischer said. 'We've all been dreading the passing of The Champ, but at the same time we knew ultimately it would come. It was selfish for us to think that we could hold on to him forever. Our job now, as a city, is to send him off with the class and dignity and respect that he deserves.'

Community activist Christopher 2X leads a procession down the street where Ali was born in Louisville

Muhammad Ali's daughter Laila said she spent years mentally preparing for her father's death and now takes comfort in the fact that he is no longer suffering

• The 38-year-old said she doubted the legendary boxer was ready to give up, as one of the things he feared the most was death

Laila believes he will be living on through her son, Curtis, who she thinks is a 'spitting image' of her late dad. She shared a picture of the youngster posing with his grandson during a Louis Vuitton shoot.

Laila followed her father into boxing and retired with an unbeaten record. She is seen with her father after defeating Suzy Taylor in Las Vegas on August 17, 2002

Ali is pictured at home with the two daughters he had with his third wife, Veronica: Laila and Han

Laila was with eight of her siblings when her father (center) passed away on Friday. Eight of the brothers and sisters (including Laila) are seen posing at a recent birthday

 

[myoyambendi]

RIP M.Ali

 

[BlackPanther]

RIP Mohamed Ali,Mwenyezi Mungu Akuweke mahali pema peponi

 

[Elli]

Duh haya kalale pema peponi Kamanda

 

[Jihan]

Nakukubali sana Shadow kwa habari picha.
R. I. P Muhammad

 

[Mukulu wa Bakulu]

Mwenzake "smoking Joe" Frezier alitangulia mbele ya haki miaka kama mitatu iliyopita.

Wapumzike kwa amani hawa wakubwa.

 

[maulana majaliwa]

R.I.P Muhammad Ally

 

[hazole1]

Muache apumzike safari yetu ni moja.

 

[stephot]

RIP Muhamad Ali.

 

[simanyane]

Akalale pale anapostahili kulingana na matendo yake

 

[God'sBeliever]

R.I.P

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

USA baby.....

 

[Shadow]

EXCLUSIVE- Crumbling in the Jungle: Eerie dictator's palace where Muhammed Ali trained for fight of his life alongside African despot who insisted on right to deflower virgins... and drank human blood

• Muhammad Ali spent five weeks living and training in Nsele, one of dictator Mubuto Sese Seko's glamorous palaces
• Now a long-abandoned ruin, it gives little hint to its explosive past - including a Ali's secret, bigamous marriage
• Here Ali, 32, rubbed shoulders with Sese Seko, enjoying the despot's hospitality and turning blind eye to his cruelty

Abandoned: The palace at Nsele, once home to one of Africa's most despotic dictators and, briefly, the world's greatest box, Muhhamad Ali

Grand: Mubuto Sese Seko, who had grabbed power in a coup in the mid-60s, was famed for his extravagant tastes - and so it was only right that when he invited Ali and his opponent George Foreman to Zaire to compete in the famed Rumble in the Jungle, they stayed here

Terrifying: But behind the glamour was a dark truth - that Sese Seko, who had renamed the country Zaire, was ruling through fear

Theft: Sese Seko, born Joseph-Desire Mubuto, was also mining the country's great wealth for himself - eventaully leaving it to starve

Grand: By the time he fled the country, 23 years after the fight, he had stolen billions of dollars to fund his international lifestyle

Future: He paid $10million to host the fight, giving each boxer half, hoping it would give the world the 'right' impression of his country

Nsele, some 40kms outside Kinshasa, the capital of what today is known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, but then was Zaire, was once one of ruler Mobutu Sese Seko’s most glittering palaces.

Ali, by now 32, should have only been here a matter of weeks after he arrived in September 1974. His fight against George Foreman was supposed to take place on the 25th. But it was delayed after Foreman’s eye was injured, and the men stayed on at Nsele for another five weeks, waiting for their moment in the ring.

The wait was something both men would have liked to avoid: journalists have since revealed how neither liked Zaire. There was talk of food being poisoned, fears over the water, and even female demons.

In reality, the most evil thing either man would come across was their host – the man who had paid $10million to host the fight - $5million to Ali, and $5million to Foreman.

Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, which translates as ‘the all-powerful warrior who because of his endurance and inflexible will to win will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake’, had been in power for almost a decade by the time the two fighters landed from France.

Home: This is where Ali stayed during his time in Zaire, which should have only been a few weeks, but ended up over a month

Holding court: Every day, Ali invited the press from across the world to make the journey to the compound to watch him train

Fearful: But those who followed the match later revealed neither fighter was particularly happy about being in Zaire so long

Legends: It is said Foreman worried about being poisoned, while Ali was warned an evil female spirit might attack him

Friendship: But they appeared to strike up a bond of sorts with their host, famed for his love of leopard-skin hats and his walking stick

Cleaning up: Ahead of the fight, Sese Seko is said to have had 1,000 known criminals rounded up in Kinshasa and thrown into jail - and executed 100, so no one dared step into their shoes while the world's press were in the capital

Executions: It is also said there were still bullet holes littering some walls in the stadium where the fight took place on October 29, 1974 - left there after people were lined up and shot

Assault: Sese Seko was also said to invoke his right, as chief of Zaire, to sleep with virgins across the country - believed to be a great honour. It is unlikely Ali, pictued training in Zaire, who had converted to Islam, knew anything of his host's sinister ways

Closeness: In fact, they were seen embracing on several occasions - much to the surprise of those who knew the dictator better

Winner: Ali would go on to knock out his rival in the eighth round, having withstood Foreman's blows for round after round

 

[Shadow]

Well behaved: Ali was supposed to be living a monastic lifestyle while staying at Nsele, preparing for the fight of his life

Concentration: His wife wasn't even staying with him, but at a hotel a little way outside the compound, in theory so he could focus

New interest: In fact, Ali had taken up with another woman - an 18-year-old called Veronica Porsche, one of the poster girls for the Rumble

Infiltrator: Ali's camp feared she might be a spy sent in by Foreman, and said he needed to be careful as they became closer

Secret: But it seems love won out: the two had a secret wedding in Ali's villa a week before the fight took place

• Happy: But the marriage - conducted by a Muslim preacher with just the boxer and his young bride in attendance - technically made Ali a bigamist, so it was kept top secret. Pictured: Ali and Veronica in 1978

Legality: The pair eventually married again in 1977, after Ali divorced his second wife, who was mother to four of his children

Family: Veronica, pictured with the couple's daughters Laila and Hana Yasmeen, was married to Ali until 1986, after the onset of Parkinsons

 

[makodinda]

Mwenzake "smoking Joe" Frezier alitangulia mbele ya haki miaka kama mitatu iliyopita.

Wapumzike kwa amani hawa wakubwa.

Huko kama wataruhusu kurudia lile pambano la century basi hawa wanaume wa shoka wawili smoking joe na The Champ lazima watazipiga...nilikuwa nawaheshimu sana hawa Living Lengendary

 

[misasa]

RIP ALLY

 

[kinyoba]

Nilikuwa natiza pambano hilo la Thriller in Manila muda si mrefu. Smoking Joe ni hatari ila Ali alikuwa zaidi yake.

 

[Freeland]

spoted

 

[Lancashire]

Rest in peace legend

 

[sinafungu]

huyu alikuwa raia wa Dunia....!