Actor Will Smith and former heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis will serve as pallbearers in services held Friday for Muhammad Ali.
Ali died Friday night from septic shock after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.
Services for Ali will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, and will include a procession and private burial. A public memorial for the boxer and activist will be held at the KFC Yum! Center at 2 p.m. EST. Fifteen thousand tickets are currently available for the event.
Smith, who portrayed Muhammad Ali in Michael Mann’s 2001 biopic, Ali, was nominated for Best Actor by the Academy Awards for the role. Like Ali, Lewis was both a former heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist.
ESPN reports that Smith and Lewis will be joined by six additional pallbearers: John Grady, Ali’s cousin; Ibn Ali, Ali’s nephew; Komawi Ali, Ali’s former brother-in-law; Jerry Ellis, brother of Jimmy Ellis, who was Ali’s former sparring partner and also a former heavyweight champion; Jan Wadell, Ali’s first cousin; and John Ramsey, Ali’s family friend.
Friday’s memorial service will be open to the general public with tickets available at the arena’s box office starting Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. EST.
The services will follow a Thursday prayer service at Louisville’s Freedom Hall arena, which starts at noon EST.
Ali spent the final hours of his life surrounded by his family after initially being hospitalized in the Phoenix area on May 30.
