Muhammad Ali (R) may have
officially won the third and final bout between him and Joe Frazier,
but neither boxer was ever the same after. (AP Photo/Mitsunori Chigita)
PHOENIX (AP) –Muhammad Ali, the magnificent heavyweight
champion whose fast fists and irrepressible personality transcended
sports and captivated the world, has died according to a statement
released by his family. He was 74.
The 74-year-old boxing great’s respiratory issues had been
complicated by the Parkinson’s that he was diagnosed with in the 1980s,
two people told The Associated Press a day earlier.
Several of Ali’s daughters had reportedly flown to Phoenix late Thursday.
Laila Ali, herself a former boxing champion, posted a picture Friday
afternoon on Facebook of her father holding her daughter when she was an
infant.
“I love this photo of my father and my daughter Sydney when she was a
baby!” she wrote. “Thanks for all the love and well wishes. I feel your
love and appreciate it!!”
Ali has been hospitalized several times in recent years, most
recently in early 2015 when he was treated for a severe urinary tract
infection initially diagnosed as pneumonia.
His last formal public appearance before that was in October when he
appeared at the Sports Illustrated Tribute to Muhammad Ali at The
Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, along with
former opponents George Foreman and Larry Holmes.
Ali has suffered from Parkinson’s for three decades, most famously
trembling badly while lighting the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta.
Despite the disease he kept up a busy appearance schedule until
recently, though he has not spoken in public for years.
Doctors say the Parkinson’s likely was caused by the thousands of
punches Ali took during a career in which he traveled the world for big
fights.
An iconic figure who at one point was perhaps the most recognized
person in the world, Ali has lived quietly in the Phoenix area with his
fourth wife, Lonnie, whom he married in 1986.
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