Muhammad Ali died at 74, "The Greatest of All Time"

One of the greatest fighter of the century,the three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali has died at 74. Ali has been hospitalized for a respiratory issue, June 2 and he died on Friday at the Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for a respiratory complications.

After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurological condition that slowly robbed him of both his legendary verbal grace and his physical dexterity. A funeral service is planned in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.

                   Ali, who called himself "The Greatest," was married four times and had nine children, including daughter Laila, who also became a professional boxer. Ali and his fourth wife, Yolanda"Lonnie" Williams, had been married since 1986.



Born Cassius Clay on Jan. 17, 1942, Ali first stepped in the ring at the age of 12 in his hometown of Louisville. Acclaimed for his quick, dancing style as a fighter, Ali also blended a unique mix of political activism and personal conviction that won him international recognition outside the ring.

After winning 100 of 108 amateur fights, Ali took home an Olympic gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

"I never thought of the possibility of failing, only of the fame and glory I was going to get when I won," Ali wrote."I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, I believed in myself,and I still do."