Will Smith To Be A Pallbearer At Muhammad Ali's Funeral

It has been reported that actor Will Smith will be a pallbearer at boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s funeral on Friday.

The 47-year-old star is said to join Lennox Lewis, Jerry Ellis, and other friends and family to make up the traditional eight pallbearers at the service, which is due to take place in Kentucky.

Will and Muhammad struck up a friendship when Will played the heavyweight champ in ‘Ali’, with the father-of-three even winning an Oscar nomination for his role.

The Fresh Prince actor was understandably left heartbroken when news of his friend’s death broke last week, with Will taking to Twitter to write: “You shook up the World! My Mentor & My Friend.

"You changed my Life. Rest in Peace.”

He’d previously said of Muhammad: “There’s no doubt that he was a great boxer. He was the greatest of all time. When we think about the legacy of Muhammad Ali, what he did in the ring is not what we think about.

"For nearly two years, I worked to transform myself into the man who changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and shook up the world, and that’s really what makes my job so beautiful.

"As an actor, for four or five months at a time, I get to wear people’s lives, so I got to wear Muhammad Ali’s greatness. I got to study and feel and embody the soul of the man from the foundations of Islam and the strength of his Muslim faith in his life to the beautiful wake that he always leaves in his magnificent path.”

Yesterday it was revealed that Muhammad Ali was given just ten years to live back in 1986 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but he went on to live until the age of 74 with septic shock being the cause of his death.

[Photo Credit: Rex]