This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's June 12 World Fame Issue. Subscribe today!
A week before her husband dies, Lonnie Ali changes the plans for his funeral. The funeral she had envisioned is too big, she thinks. It is too complicated. At her annual meeting with the man who has been doing most of the planning, she says, "Sit down. I have to talk to you about something."
She is making changes because she believes she has time to make them. Her husband is not even sick. And besides ... he's Muhammad Ali.