After a 32 year fight with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali's final battle came to an end on June 3, 2016 in Phoenix, AZ. Although his legendary fights, like "the Thrilla in Manila" in 1975, were a generation ago, Ali has been viewed as one of the GOAT (if there is even a debate) in boxing and a pioneer for all African-American athletes (and frankly any minority athlete). Thoughts poured in from around the NBA to remember the legend.
As LeBron James put it:
The reason why he's the GOAT is not because of what he did in the ring, which was unbelievable, it's what he did outside of the ring, what he believed in, what he stood for, along with Jim Brown and Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor - obviously who became Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] - Bill Russel, Jackie Robinson.