The boxing icon who inspired many champions, in sports and life, Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as one of the most significant and renowned sports figures of the 20th century.

Those who knew Ali only through his hyperbolic self-promotion would have found his mix of play and purpose strange but that was Ali. Beneath the bluster was a serious soul who thought deeply about race, responsibility and justice and how they shaped him into who he was.

Muhammad Ali will be laid to rest Friday, the culmination of a two-day farewell for the beloved boxing legend and civil rights hero who electrified crowds the world over.

He wouldn't yield to pressures from sponsors, exerted twice before a heavyweight championship encounter to ostensibly distance himself from Islam. His association with Malcom X and hiring a Muslim woman cook for his camp miffed some potential sponsors threatening not to back Ali.

Muslim prayers over the body of Muhammad Ali will be witnessed worldwide Thursday, offering a window into a religion many outsiders know little about, but have come to scorn.

Former Indian amateur boxer Haroon Khan bubbles with excitement and bravado as he recalls his two bouts with his hero, the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali, three decades ago.

Muhammad Ali is considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Here seven stories about The Greatest are relieved.

Muhammad Ali’s most famous act of social activism — one that would strip him of his best fighting years, cost him millions of dollars, forever alter his image and eventually send him into debt — began with one off-hand quote: “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.”

Mohammad Giasuddin, the 12-year-old boy who had 'knocked out' Muhammad Ali during the boxer's maiden Bangladesh visit in 1978, says he is shocked and extremely saddened to hear the news of the legend's death.

Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 74, a family spokesman has said. The former world heavyweight boxing champion, one of the world's best-known sportsmen, had been in hospital in the US city of Phoenix in Arizona state.

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali has been hospitalised for a respiratory issue, family spokesman Bob Gunnell say.

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali criticises US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering America.