Muhammad Ali, boxing legend, cultural icon dies at 74

Muhammad Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion boxer whose electrifying prowess in the ring and controversial outspokenness outside of it made him one of the world’s most recognizable personalities of the 20^th Century, died Friday after a battle with a respiratory illness at a Phoenix hospital. He was 74.

Ali family spokesperson Bob Gunnell said that Ali’s funeral will take place in his hometown of Louisville, Ky., on Friday.

He said Saturday that former President Bill Clinton, broadcaster Bryant Gumbel, and actor Billy Crystal will deliver the eulogies during the service which will be streamlined live around world.

Gunnell said Ali died of septic shock "due to unspecified natural causes." He said the boxing legend died Friday at 9:10 p.m. local time, spending the last hour of his life surrounded by his family. He was initially hospitalized in the Phoenix area on Monday.