‘Service is the rent we pay’: Muhammad Ali remembered 10 years on

Muhammad Ali’s legacy extends far beyond his world titles and Olympic gold, his widow has said, as his hometown prepares to mark 10 years since the boxing icon’s death with a global “Day of Compassion”.

Ali, who died on June 3, 2016, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, is being honored this week at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, which is encouraging people worldwide to mark Wednesday’s anniversary with acts of service and care.

“He transcended boxing into every space you can imagine,” Lonnie Ali said in an interview at the centre. “Muhammad lived by this mantra: Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on Earth.

“He showed up every day with kindness and empathy in his heart for people who are in need.”

Known in his hometown as the “Louisville Lip”, Ali rose from a modest background to become a three-time heavyweight champion and 1960 Olympic gold medallist.

As his fame grew in the 1960s, he became an outspoken voice on civil rights and the Vietnam War, cementing his status as one of the most influential athletes of all time.

The Ali Center, where Lonnie Ali serves as lifetime director, hopes the “Day of Compassion” will grow into an annual event highlighting volunteerism and service.

“The day will focus on one of the core values that made up Muhammad Ali,” she said, warning that the United States is “losing touch with our humanity and with each other”.

“We’re becoming increasingly polarised and separated, and sort of retreating to people who think like us, look like us – and not really reaching out,” she added.

Lonnie Ali also challenged political leaders to “lead with compassion”, criticising moves that have weakened the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. “We should always be thinking about how we can uplift a community, not how we can make it harder for them.

“You can’t have equal representation when you’re denying people voting rights,” she said.

She said she still draws hope from how Louisville came together during a weeklong celebration of Ali’s life in 2016, when thousands lined the streets as his funeral procession passed his childhood home and millions watched the service online.

A decade later, Ali’s face now appears on a US postage stamp – another sign, she said, that his message of courage, faith, and service still resonates “from kings and princes to ordinary fans who never met him, but felt they knew his heart”.