AS the world mourns the passing of most celebrated sportsman in history, the Swindon boxing trainer that crossed paths with Muhammad Ali hopes that the man immortalised as ‘The Greatest’ will be remembered for the example he set as a human being.

On Friday night, the three-time world heavyweight champion, who had battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years, died at the age of 74 at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, from “septic shock due to unspecified natural causes,” according to his family.

Swindon trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick first met Ali in 2001 when he was working in the United States and training the legendary fighter’s daughter Laila.

Inspirational, influential and controversial, tributes have been paid to the man born Cassius Clay by people from all walks of life and Fitzpatrick hopes that the world embraces the most significant teachings bestowed by Ali’s storied life.

“It is sad but we knew that he’d not been right for a long time, so it isn’t a shock,” said the Swindon trainer, who runs Fitzpatrick’s Gym.

“You can never celebrate everything about a person – everybody makes mistakes – but he’s someone that influenced not just millions of people but billions.

“He was the most famous person in the world.

“It’s always nice to be in the company of good people. I spent time with him in the States, in Vegas, in LA and in Ireland.

“I hope that we remember all of the things that he taught us and not just Muhammad as a celebrity.

“We invest so much time on things that don’t improve us as human beings, like watching hours of mind-numbing TV, and I hope that he influenced us to focus on the things that matter.”