Boxing: Amateur ranks salute Ali

The city of Louisville welcomed home its most beloved son this week to inaugurate an international amateur tournament that bears his name.

Slowly, Muhammad Ali rose, smiled and rang the ringside bell three times to signal the opening of the first Muhammad Ali Cup International Amateur Challenge at the Commonwealth Convention Center.

Members of the 21 countries represented in the event marched into the arena bearing the flags of their home nations.

The event is expected to raise more than $1m (pounds 600,000) for a planned Ali museum and education center in Louisville. It also will help determine members of the US team that will compete at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in October.

Anwar Chowdhry, president of the International Amateur Boxing Association, said: "We are proud to be here on this unique occasion - a boxing competition in the name of the greatest of the great boxers the world has ever produced. It is my wish and desire that this tournament should become an annual feature."

Nearly 100 boxers from more than 20 nations are to compete in the tournament, including the United States team's top-ranked boxers in 11 of 12 weight classes.

The week will be capped by a tribute to amateur boxing, featuring the first appearance of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield together since their heavyweight title fight in June in which Tyson was disqualified for twice biting Holyfield on the ear.