Muhammad Ali remembered in final farewell in Kentucky

The boxing legend Muhammad Ali was finally laid to rest in a private ceremony at Cave Hill Cemetery. And hundreds of thousands more lined the way to pay their last respects to Muhammad Ali.

The 47-year-old actor – who served as a pallbearer for the late boxing legend’s coffin – learned a “valuable lesson” while driving through the streets of Louisville, Kentucky on Friday (10.06.16) and seeing how much people adored the sportsman, who died aged 74 on June 3. I’m free to be who I am.

Ali’s service began with a reading of the Koran in Arabic Koran by Imam Hamzah Abdul Malik.

Rabbi Michael Lerner received a standing ovation from sections of the crowd after highlighting injustices black people face. “And the answer is the way to honour Muhammad Ali is to be Muhammad Ali today”.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton described Ali as “a free man of faith”.

The final speaker at the memorial service, Clinton remembered Ali’s humor, intelligence, natural gifts and determination “to write his own life story”. I think he decided before he could possibly have worked it all out, and before fate and time could work their will on him, he decided that he would not be ever disempowered. “Not his race, not his place, not the expectations of others whether positive or negative would strip from him the power to write his own story”, he said.

In the letter, read by White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, the president described Ali as “more original and influential than just about anyone of his era”.

Obama was not there, as he was attending his eldest daughter Malia’s graduation.

Comedian and longtime friend Billy Crystal said the first time he met the Champ was in 1974, when he was just getting started as a stand-up comedian and was asked to perform at an event honoring Ali.

“He was a tremendous bolt of lightning created by Mother Nature out of thin air”, he said.

“Muhammad Ali struck us in the middle of America’s darkest night and his intense light shone on America and we were able to see clearly”. He also drew big applause recalling Ali’s lighting of the Olympic torch in Atlanta in 1996, “seeing his hands shake and his legs shake and knowing, by God, he was going to make those last few steps, no matter what it took – the flame would be lit, the fight would be won, his spirit would be affirmed”.