‘He will never die’

San Francisco : Tributes to Muhammad Ali poured in from across the sporting, cultural and political world after his death at age 74 with many saying there would never be another one like “The Greatest.”

Ali was fondly remembered not just as a heavyweight boxing icon but also for his fight for social justice, while others recalled his warmth and generosity, how he was equally at home with presidents and people on the streets.

George Foreman, Ali’s most famous knockout victim from the Rumble in the Jungle, noted Ali’s other main rival, Joe Frazier, in tweeting: “Ali, Frazier and Foreman... we were one guy. A part of me slipped away, the greatest piece.”

The front page headline on Ali’s hometown newspaper, the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, simply said, “The Greatest,” with a legendary 1965 photo of Ali standing over a flattened Sonny Liston.

Don King, who promoted the Rumble in the Jungle, said Ali will live on forever alongside other US civil rights heroes.

“He was tremendous, not just a boxer, a great human being, an icon,” King said. “Muhammad Ali’s spirit, like Martin Luther King Jr., will live on. That’s why Muhammad Ali will never die.”

 Liston fight gave birth to Ali legend

Cassius Clay had just beaten world champion Sonny Liston when he turned his wrath on the ringside reporters who had written him off as an underdog, shouting: “Eat your words!”

Liston, nagged by a shoulder injury, threw in the towel before the seventh round at Miami’s Convention Hall, surrendering his heavyweight championship belt to the loose-lipped 22-year-old on February 25, 1964.

Clay converted to Islam soon thereafter and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

Decades later, the legend of Ali still commanded the sports world.

But the moment that gave birth to that legend came in Miami, where Clay said all along he would defeat the “fat bear” Liston.

“Incredibly, the loud-mouthed bragging, insulting youngster had been telling the truth all along,” a New York Times reporter wrote in reference to Clay’s bold prediction of victory.

At the time of his name change, Ali had won his first 19 professional fights and was best known for his 1960 gold medal triumph at the Rome Olympics.

Ali’s birth city Louisville honours its hometown hero

Flags were lowered yesterday in Muhammad Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky at a somber ceremony paying homage to boxing’s greatest figure and the city’s best known native son.

A police honour guard in crisp blue uniforms saluted as several officers lowered the US flag as well as the Kentucky state standard, just hours after the death of the boxing legend.

The ceremony took place at the museum -- formerly Ali’s boyhood home -- which now serves as a shrine to the life and legacy of Ali.

Ali is to be buried in Louisville, a city that was once part of the segregated South, but which has come to embrace him fully as one of its own.