It’s almost impossible to mark the life of a legend fittingly enough with just one page.
Muhammad Ali’s 74 years on this earth were like none other.
They were inspiring, historic, beautiful. Like any great figure, the man had his controversies but, all the while – as one of the greatest boxers of all time, as a civil rights activist, as a leader – people listened and watched and he was utterly compelling.
On Friday, Muhammad Ali will be laid to rest in Louisville.
Back in his hometown where it all began, the scramble to wave goodbye to the formerly-known Cassius Clay is moving.
The world has been saying goodbye in so many different ways and the global media has tried and tried to mark the life of one of earth’s greatest just right.
There have been some beautiful tributes.
Sunday's Independent digital front page:
Muhammad Ali
1942-2016#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/LxrCs3DLbE— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) June 4, 2016
And some stinkers.
https://twitter.com/Mikey_Corcoran/status/739413364292620288
But one of ESPN’s drafts for their magazine front page was stirring as they paid homage to the floating butterfly with magical simplicity.
https://twitter.com/ChinWangESPN/status/740987764540362752
Perfect.
In the end, ESPN opted not to use what would’ve been such an iconic front page. What they went with eventually was good but not as poignant.
https://twitter.com/ChinWangESPN/status/740965629591728128
