Muhammad Ali dies

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 74.

The three-time heavyweight champion of the world died at a hospital in the US city of Phoenix, Arizona, after being admitted on Thursday.

Ali had been suffering from a respiratory diseases that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.

A funeral service is planned in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, he rose to fame after winning light heavyweight gold at the Rome Olympics of 1960.

He would turn professional after this after taking on the moniker The Greatest. he would go on to become the first puliger to capture the heavyweight title on 3 separate occasions.

Ali was known for his pre and post-fight talk as well as civil rights activity.

In 1967 he was stripped of world boxing title and license for opposing the Vietnam war and refusing to be drafted into the army to fight in it. Ali would not fight for another four years.

He suffered his first professional defeat at the hands of Joe Frazier in 1971 but would gain his heavyweight title against George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) on 30 October 1974.

Soon after his retirement in 1981 rumours started emerging of is illness and he was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a conditioned he suffered from for over three decades.

All in all Ali lived and inspired life.