Muhammad Ali will be laid to rest today in Louisville, Kentucky and the entire memorial service will be streamed live.
A procession through the streets of Louisville begins at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by a public memorial service at the KFC Yum! Center at 2 p.m. ET.
The 19-mile procession starts at A.D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home, and Ali fans have been lining up along the route to pay their respects to the champ. The route is expected to pass Ali’s childhood home and the high school he attended.
Former President Bill Clinton and actor Billy Crystal will eulogize Ali. Other speakers will include representatives from multiple religions, including Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Mormonism. Will Smith and Mike Tyson are expected to serve as a pallbearers.
Ali reportedly wanted his memorial held in an arena so that ordinary fans could attend, as opposed to just celebrities and VIPs if it were in a smaller venue. John Grady, Ibn Ali, Kamawi Ali, Jerry Ellis, Lennox Lewis, Jan Wadell, John Ramsey and Gene Dibble, Jr. are expected to join Smith and Tyson as pallbearers.
Ali will be buried at Cave Hill Cemetery, which is also the resting place for Colonel Harlan Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The boxer died last week at age 74 after being hospitalized in Arizona for respiratory issues. Ali also suffered from Parkinson’s disease, which was diagnosed in 1984.
News organizations are going all out with their coverage of Ali’s memorial.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos will anchor special reports from New York, while anchor Byron Pitts and Correspondent Ryan Smith will report for the network from the Muhammad Ali Center and KFC YUM! Center.
CBS’ Scott Pelley is in Louisville with a team of correspondents contributing to the coverage. Lester Holt will anchor NBC News coverage from New York with The New Yorker editor and Ali historian David Remnick on hand to offer insight and perspective.
Shepard Smith will anchor coverage on Fox News, with correspondents Jonathan Hunt and Mike Tobin on location. ESPN will be live on the funeral coverage for over nine hours, with Hannah Storm and Jeremy Schaap anchoring from Louisville.
MSNBC’s Brian Williams will handle the network’s coverage with a variety of guests, including Rev. Al Sharpton and famed sports columnist Mike Lupica. MSNBC will air the Oscar-winning documentary “When We Were Kings,” at 10 p.m. ET, which recounts Ali’s “Rumble in the Jungle.”
The live stream will be available here starting 2 p.m. ET.