Bill Clinton and Billy Crystal deliver heartfelt eulogies as David Beckham and Arnold Schwarzenegger join thousands of mourners bidding farewell to Muhammad Ali

MUHAMMAD Ali's memorial service is underway at a celebrity packed arena containing sports stars, actors and politicians form around the world to pay their respects to "The Greatest".

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Louisville, Kentucky as the motorcade carrying Muhammad Ali made it's way through the streets of his hometown.

President Clinton praised Ali as a boxer and a man saying his battling spirit stopped him fading away as Parkinson's gripped hold of the fighter.

He said: "I spend a lot of my time now as I get older, and older, and older, trying to figure out what makes people tick. How do they turn out the way they do. How do some people avoid being victims and rise from defeat.

"I think he decided very young to write his own life story. I think he decided before he could have possibly worked it all out and before fate and time could work their will on him, he decided that he would not be unempowered

"He decided that not his race, nor his place, nor the expectations of others would strip from him the power to write his own story."

Comedian Billy Crystal delivered a heartfelt eulogy to the man who was born Cassius Clay.

He recounted the first time he met Mohammad Ali at a dinner in his honour where he would impersonate the great man.

Crystal touchingly revealed Ali called him 'little brother' from the first time they met.

In an emotional speech the comedian said:

"Thirty five years after he stopped fighting, he is still the champion of the world.

"Last week when we heard the news the world stopped. There were no wars, no terrorists, no suffering the world took a breath and sighed."

Telling the assembled mourners he described is favourite moment with the champ he described the time he retold the story of his life at his retirement party in 1979.

After he performed a sketch charting Ali's life from his teenage years right into his 30s he said the great man pushed comedian Richard Pryor aside, gave him a bear hug and whispered: "Little brother, you made my life better than it was."

He finally compared the great man to Mozart and Shakespeare.

David Beckham, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Clinton were among the dignitaries attending the service, with the former president set to give eulogy.

The ninety minute procession took 'The Greatest's' body past his childhood home, The Ali Centre and down Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

As the cortege made its way through the streets fans chanted "Ali, Ali" as the seventeen cars passed.

Ali's nine children, his wife, two of his ex-wives and other family members made up the motorcade that followed the hearse as it came to a 1pm standstill at the cemetery

His family will attend a private burial service at the Cave Hill cemetery before the public funeral service at the KFC Yum! Centre got underway.

As the interfaith service began the crowd of up to 15,000 burst into applause and chanted, "Ali! Ali!" when a Muslim religious leader welcomed the audience to "the home of the people's champ."

Kevin Cosby, pastor of a Louisville church, likened Ali to such racial barrier-breakers as Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson.

He said: "Before James Brown said, 'I'm black and I'm proud,' Muhammad Ali said, 'I'm black and I'm pretty,'

"Blacks and pretty were an oxymoron."

He said the boxing great "dared to affirm the power and capacity of African-Americans" and infused them with a "sense of somebodiness."

The brash and outspoken athlete transcended sports to become a powerful source of black pride and a symbol of professional excellence recognised around the world.

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch says he first met Muhammad Ali 28 years ago when the boxing great visited the Utah Republican at his Senate office.

"The friendship we developed I think was puzzling to many people, especially to those who only saw our differences," he said at Ali's memorial service. "I'd say that where others saw differences, Ali and I saw kinship."

Hatch says he once took Ali to a children's hospital in Salt Lake City, where they visited with downtrodden children.

"Ali held those kids and looked into their eyes. They would grin from ear to ear," Hatch said. "The nurses were astounded. Never before had they seen someone who had connected so immediately and profoundly with these sick children.

"He may have been a tough and tenacious man in the ring, but he was compassionate and tender around those who he loved."

Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett read a letter from President Barack Obama at Muhammad Ali's memorial service.

Obama was unable to make the trip because of his daughter Malia's high school graduation. Jarrett said she was chosen to go instead because she knew Ali for 45 years.

Obama's letter said Ali was bigger than America, and it noted the world flocked to the champ "because Muhammad Ali was America.

"And like America, he was always very much a work in progress. We do him a disservice to gauze up his story, to sand down his rough edges, to talk only of floating like butterflies and stinging like bees. Ali was a radical, even in a radical of times. A loud and proud and unabashedly black voice in a Jim Crow world."

Ali's brokenhearted widow Lonnie took to the stage amid chants of "Ali! Ali!". She said her family were "humbled" by the "heartfelt expressions of love" from around the world since his death.

She said:"Muhammad never stopped loving Louisville and we know Louisville loved Muhammad.

"Muhammad fell in love with the masses and they fell in love with him. He did not fear death.

"Muhammad may have challenged his government but he never ran from it or America. He saw the good soul in every one."

Boxing legends Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, along with Hollywood actor Will Smith, help Muhammad Ali make his final ring walk – as the hearse carrying the icon’s body left the funeral home to his memorial service in Louisville, Kentucky.

David Beckham and Arnold Schwarzenegger also attended the star filled funeral service to pay tribute to a true sporting great.

Hundreds of fans gathered outside to say their final goodbyes to the three-time heavyweight champ.

Louisville native Ali, born Cassius Clay, died last Friday of septic shock in an Arizona hospital aged 74 – after bravely battling Parkinson’s disease since 1984.

Mourners and fans lined the streets of the Kentucky town tossing flowers onto the passing hearse to pay their respects to its most famous son.

The cortege is making it;s way to the KFC Yum! arena for an interfaith service.

Actor Smith, who played Ali in the 2001 Oscar nominated screen biopic, helped British boxing great Lewis and his former-foe Tyson carry the coffin of the man widely regarded as ‘The Greatest’.

Speaking with The Telegraph, London-born former heavyweight champ Lewis said: “The legacy of Muhammad Ali will last forever. I’m happy that I am here to say goodbye to the greatest.”

Other stars attending the funeral at a 22,000-seater basketball stadium include Hollywood actor Will Smith, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, singer Yusuf Islam and comedian Billy Crystal.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan cut his trip abruptly short after Turkey's top cleric was barred from speaking at the service.

Sherman Jackson, a Muslim scholar at the University of Southern California, spoke about the impact Ali’s death will have on followers of Islam.

He said: "The passing of Muhammad Ali has made us all feel a little more alone in the world.

"Something solid, something big, beautiful and life-affirming has left this world.”

The cultural icon, whose glittering boxing career lasted from 1960 until 1981, had reportedly been planning his funeral for ten years.

Ali wanted the service to honour his Muslim faith, which he adopted in the early 1960s, but also to be receptive toWestern media-driven culture.

On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama praised the sporting-great in a Facebook live broadcast from the White House, showing off a copy of the book, "GOAT: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali," and a signed pair of boxing gloves gifted to him by Ali.

He said: "It's very rare where a figure captures the imagination of the entire world.

"He was one of a kind and in my book he'll always be the greatest."

Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Ali won an Olympic gold medal in 1960 before sensationally winning the heavyweight title in 1964 beating Sonny Liston at age 22.

After refusing to fight in the Vietnam War, the sporting great was stripped of his titles and spent three years in the boxing wilderness from 1967 until 1970.

Ali’s greatness was largely defined by three iconic fights with Joe Frazier and his 1974 battle with George Foreman dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle.

The boxing idol retired after humiliating defeats to Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick in 1980 and 1981 receptively.

In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and withdrew from public life although he was actively involved in numerous charitable causes.