A man photographs a memorial as he pays his respects to boxing legend Muhammad Ali at the Muhammad Ali Center June 5, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky. (credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Thousands of bees are making their home next to a Muhammad Ali mural in Louisville bearing one of his most famous quotes.

CBS affiliate WLKY-TV reported the swarm of bees showed up in a tree next to the “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee” mural on Sunday morning. The mural is across from the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville.

A coincidence or a sign from #MuhammadAli? Thousands of bees swarm tree near Ali mural. Story tonight on @WLKY pic.twitter.com/9EqlgPczM8 — Carolyn Callahan (@CarolynWLKY) June 5, 2016

“About 15,000, maybe a little more,” beekeeper Kevin McKinney told WLKY. “It was a very big swarm.”

McKinney added that the “irony is not lost on me at all.”

Ali died of septic shock “due to unspecified natural causes” on Friday at the age of 74.

People have been flocking to Ali’s boyhood home in Louisville to pay tribute to the boxing great, leaving flowers, balloons and boxing gloves around the marker designating it a historical site.

The small pink home on Grand Avenue was recently renovated and turned into a museum. Said Dorothy Poynter, who grew up with Ali in the neighborhood, “We were all so proud of him.”

Another memorial has grown outside the Muhammad Ali Center, a downtown museum that promotes his humanitarian ideals and showcases his remarkable career.

Andrew Hale took his 3-year-old daughter, Chloe, there on Sunday to explain to her who Ali was.

He said: “He was strong, courageous, and I hope I can be like that one day and just show love to my daughter like he showed his. … She asked me where he is and I said he was in heaven.”

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