David Beckham will attend Muhammad Ali’s funeral on Friday (10.06.16).
The soccer star has been personally invited by the family of the legendary boxer to the memorial service in Louisville, Kentucky and, according to The Sun Online, he will travel from Africa, where he has been working with UNICEF, in order to attend.
Following Ali’s death last week, David took to his Instagram page to share a picture of them together and pay tribute.
He wrote: "The Greatest there will ever be …. The biggest and the best ….. Rest In Peace."
And he added a quote from Ali, writing: "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
Will Smith will join former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, Jerry Ellis, the brother of Ali’s former sparring partner Jimmy Ellis and friends and family of the late boxer to make up the party of eight pallbearers at the memorial service.
Will received an Oscar nomination for his starring role in ‘Ali’, and following the boxer’s death last week, he tweeted: "You shook up the World! My Mentor & My Friend. You changed my Life. Rest in Peace."
Ali died at the age of 74 from septic shock and had battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years.
The funeral will be livestreamed on the internet and he will be buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
Former US President Bill Clinton will deliver a eulogy while comedian Billy Crystal and sports journalist Bryant Gumbel are also expected to speak.
Ali planned the details of his funeral which will be an interfaith memorial service in the Muslim tradition, in keeping with his beliefs.
David Beckham invited to attend Ali’s funeral
