Boxing great Muhammad Ali has been taken to hospital with pneumonia.

The three-time world heavyweight champion, who has Parkinson’s disease, was being treated by his team of doctors and was in a stable condition, said his spokesman, Bob Gunnell.



“He went into the hospital this morning,” Gunnell said. “He has a mild case of pneumonia and the prognosis is good.”

Gunnell declined to say where the 72-year-old Ali was being kept in hospital. No other details were released due to the Ali family’s request for privacy, he said.

Ali appeared in public in September to attend a ceremony in his hometown of Louisville for the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards. He did not speak.

Ali retired from boxing in 1981 and devoted himself to social causes. He travelled the world on humanitarian missions. Ali received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George Bush in 2005.

The Muhammad Ali Centre in Louisville is dedicated to Ali’s humanitarian causes and also showcases his boxing career.

Ali and his wife, Lonnie, have homes in Paradise Valley, Arizona; Berrien Springs, Michigan; and in Louisville.