Obama leads tributes for ‘The Greatest’

Louisville: President Barack Obama on Saturday led a flood of global tributes for boxing legend Muhammad Ali, as preparations were made for a final farewell to The Champ in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
Ali, the three-time world heavyweight champion and colourful civil rights activist whose fame transcended the world of sports and made him an iconic figure of the 20th century, died Friday (Saturday PNG time) at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The dazzling fighter – whose words, often delivered in catchy rhymes, were as devastating as his punches – had been admitted to an Arizona hospital earlier in the week with respiratory problems.
From political leaders to sports figures to Hollywood’s A-list, the world paused to remember “The Greatest,” whose remarkable career spanned three decades, and whose battle with illness later in life moved his fans.
He was to be buried in Louisville, with funeral arrangements to be announced on Saturday.
The city lowered flags to half-staff in his honour early Saturday, as fans flocked to his modest childhood home, now a museum, to pay their respects and leave flowers.
“Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period,” Obama said in an unusually personal statement in which he said he keeps a pair of Ali’s boxing gloves and a photo in his private study.
The US president hailed Ali for his integrity, saying he “stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t.”
“His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground,” Obama said.
“And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognise today.”
Ali was hospitalised in the Phoenix area on Thursday with what his spokesman said was a respiratory ailment, but his condition quickly deteriorated, and his family came to his bedside.
“Ali had been living in the Phoenix area with his fourth wife, Lonnie, who he married in 1986. He was survived by nine children, seven daughters and two sons.
“He just represents everything that was good about mankind and it’s sad to see him go,” said fan James Brice outside the hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Fans also gathered in Los Angeles to snap photos and leave flowers at Ali’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ali had been hospitalised multiple times in recent years. – AFP