As one of American’s all-time greats, Muhammad Ali’s funeral will be attended by a raft of famous faces but only a few special people have been given the honour of acting as pallbearers on the sad occasion. Boxing hero, Lennox Lewis and actor Will Smith, who portrayed Ali in a biopic of the same name, have been announced as two such people.

Muhammad AliThe legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, passed away at the age of 74

The funeral, to be held on Friday in Ali’s home city of Louisville, Kentucky, had been planned by Ali himself for ten years before his tragic death last week at the age of 74.

Canadian-born Lewis was the last man to be crowned the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and, like Ali, also won an Olympic gold medal.

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Smith played Ali in the 2001 film of the same name and earned an Oscar nomination for his role.

Will SmithWill Smith will act as a pallbearer at Muhammad Ali's funeral

Louisville is due to come to a standstill as the city lays to rest its most famous son and around 300,000 tickets to the public have been distributed for two memorials scheduled for Thursday and Friday in sports arenas in the city.

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Ali had suffered with Parkinsons for almost three decades - a degenerative disorder many people believed was caused by his boxing career.