Thousands are attending a farewell procession for boxing legend Muhammad Ali in his home city of Louisville, in the US state of Kentucky.
Onlookers lining the roadside waved, took photos and chanted "Ali, Ali" as a cortege led by the hearse carrying his coffin drove through the downtown area.
The heavyweight champion and rights activist died last Friday aged 74.
The cortege is taking Ali's body past key sites in his life, ahead of an interfaith memorial service.
Actor Will Smith and ex-boxer Lennox Lewis will be among the pallbearers, while former President Bill Clinton will deliver one of the eulogies.
Thousands of free tickets for the memorial service, taking place at a major sports centre, were snapped up within half an hour.
REUTERS
REUTERS
AP
AP
The motorcade procession began at about 10:35 local time (14:35 GMT), more than an hour behind schedule, and took the coffin past his childhood home, the Ali Center, the Center for African American Heritage and then down Muhammad Ali Boulevard.
Fans threw flowers at the hearse and rose petals were scattered along the route.
In one neighbourhood, several young men ran alongside the vehicle carrying a placard which read: "Ali is the greatest, thanks 4 all the memories."
The procession will end at the Cave Hill Cemetery where Ali will be laid to rest in a private ceremony.
The funeral service at the KFC Yum! Centre is due to begin at 14:00 local time.
Muhammad Ali: 1942-2016
AP
Comedian Billy Crystal will also deliver a eulogy, while sports journalist Bryant Gumbel, the daughter of civil rights activist Malcolm X, Attallah Shabazz, and Ali's wife, Lonnie, and daughters, Maryum and Rasheda, are also expected to speak.
Among those expected to attend the service is King Abdullah of Jordan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended Thursday's prayer ceremony and had been due at the service, but reports say he has cut short his visit to the US.
The reasons for his departure are not clear, though there are reports of differences with the funeral's organisers.
President Barack Obama will not be there, as he is to attend his eldest daughter Malia's graduation.
But in a video message, he said: "This week we lost an icon. A person who for African Americans, I think, liberated their minds in recognising that they could be proud of who they were."
Muhammad Ali
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, 17 January 1942
61 fights
over a professional career lasting 21 years
56 wins
including 37 knockouts
- 3 times crowned World Heavyweight Champion
- 1 Light-heavyweight Olympic gold medal
- 31 straight wins before being beaten by Joe Frazier
Getty
White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett - who knew Ali - will represent the president.
Lennox Lewis, a former world heavyweight boxing champion himself, said it was an honour to be a pallbearer and that Ali's memory would never fade.
"The term 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' will always be remembered. He is an icon and a legend of boxing," he said.
The other pallbearers are family and friends, along with Will Smith, who portrayed Ali in the 2001 film about the boxer's life.
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