Lennox Lewis. AFP FILE PHOTO
Former heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis and American actor Will Smith will have the distinct honor of carrying Muhammad Ali’s coffin during his memorial service on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
The pair were two of the eight people named in a press release shared by Khris Kenning of the Courier-Journal on Tuesday:
Ali funeral pallbearer list pic.twitter.com/BSnNTO5hg9
— Chris Kenning (@ckenning_cj) June 6, 2016
In a statement over BBC News, the 50-year-old Lewis expressed his feelings for the fallen boxing icon.
“I am humbled, and honored, beyond words to help see my hero, Muhammad Ali, off to his final resting place,” the retired boxing champion said. “Ali has always been an enormous inspiration to me, not only in my boxing career, but also in life. His journey began 74 years ago, and in that time, he not only transformed the world of sport, he used sport to transform the world.”
Meanwhile, Smith, who played the late boxer in the 2001 biopic “Ali,” was listed as a close family friend.
The other pallbearers at the funeral include associates and relatives of Ali–Jerry Ellis, the brother of Ali’s former sparring partner and fellow boxing champion, Jimmy Ellis; his cousins John Grady and Jan Wadell; former brother-in-law Komawi Ali; and family friend John Ramsey.
Ali’s funeral will be held in his hometown Louisville in Kentucky. Khristian Ibarrola
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