Ali planned his funeral years ago

Goes home Friday
In a funeral he planned years ago, Muhammad Ali will be going home as a “citizen of the world” when he is buried Friday in Louisville.
A procession will carry his body down an avenue that bears his name, through his boyhood neighborhood and down Broadway, the scene of the parade that honored the brash young man – then known as Cassius Clay – for his gold medal at the 1960 Olympics.

Funeral details were outlined by f a m i l y spokesman B o b Gun n e l l at a news conference Saturday in Scottsdale, Arizona, not far from Ali’s home in his final years.
The family “certainly believes that Muhammad was a citizen of the world … and they know that the world grieves with him,” Gunnell said.
Family members will accompany Ali’s remains to Louisville within the next two days. A private funeral ceremony will be held Thursday.
After the Friday procession, a memorial service open to everyone will be held at Louisville’s KFC YUM! Center. The list of eulogists was not complete, but will include former President Bill Clinton, comedian Billy Crystal – who famously has done a masterful impression of Ali – and sports television host Bryant Gumbel.
The ceremony will be led by an imam in the Muslim tradition but will include representatives of other faiths.
“Muhammad Ali was clearly the people’s champion,” Gunnell said, “and the celebration will reflect his devotion to people of all races, religions and backgrounds.”
Ali’s wife, Lonnie, and his children had 24 hours to say goodbye to him, Gunnell said.
The 74-year-old boxing great died at 12:10 a.m. Saturday, the spokesman said, of “septic shock due to unspecified natural causes” after three decades of Parkinson’s disease.
In Louisville, not even pouring rain Saturday could stop the flood of tributes for “The Greatest.”
In the three-time heavyweight champion’s old neighborhood, brother Rahaman Ali stood in a small house on Grand Avenue and dabbed his eyes as he shook hand after hand. The visitors had come from as far away as Georgia and as near as down the street.
“God bless you all,” the 72-year-old Rahaman said to each.