"Words can't explain what Muhammad Ali (has) done for the sport of boxing," Floyd Mayweather told ESPN. "He's one of the guys that paved the way for me to be where I am today. We lost a legend, a hero and a great man."
Said Cavaliers star LeBron James: "The reason why he's the GOAT [Greatest of All Time] 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 Russell, Jackie Robinson. Those guys stood for something. He's part of the reason why African-Americans today can do what we do in the sports world. We're free. They allow us to have access to anything we want. It's because of what they stood for, and Muhammad Ali was definitely the pioneer for that."