Muhammad Ali’s brother has taken centre
stage at a Sunday worship service at the church where their father was a
longtime member in Louisville, Kentucky.
An emotional Rahaman Ali clapped and
swayed to hymns and hugged members of King Solomon Missionary Baptist
Church in Louisville’s west end. The church features a painting by Ali’s
father, Cassius Clay Sr., and isn’t far from the pink house where the
boxing champion grew up.
Ali’s younger brother put his hand to
his face, overcome with emotion, as church members paid tribute to his
brother, who died late Friday in an Arizona hospital.
During the two-hour service, assistant
pastor Charles Elliott III asked the congregation to stand to honour
Muhammad Ali. In his tribute, Elliott said “there is no great man that
has done more for this city than Muhammad Ali.’’
Elliott’s father, the Rev. Charles
Elliott Jr., knew Muhammad Ali for decades. He recalled Ali’s generosity
in support of an anti-hunger programme in the city.
Famed fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco once said, “Cassius Clay was born in Louisville. Muhammad Ali was born in Miami.’’
Ali trained on Miami Beach in the early
days of his pro career at the 5th Street Gym, a student of Hall of Famer
Angelo Dundee. The building where they worked is long gone, knocked
down in the early 1990s. But the gym, at least a new version of it,
still exists in Miami Beach, with photos of Ali on the walls – partly to
pay homage to the past, partly to inspire the fighters who train there
now.
“He will always establish a standard of
excellence, both in the ring and as a personality,’’ said Dino Spencer,
who now runs the 5th Street Gym – which to this day hosts a boxing class
named for Ali, who was the guest of honour when the gym reopened in
2010. “He got some people to hate him and some people to love him.
That’s a lot, to affect everybody. Fighters will always strive for the
reactions he had. Most will never come close.’’
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