Muhammad Ali's legacy is not his celebrity, but his valuable life lessons

ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore is in Louisville, Kentucky, for the funeral of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who died last week aged 74, from a respiratory condition.

Today let's discard our cynicism and - for a few hours at least - put to one side our reporting of America's dysfunctional politics and entrenched problems of drugs, guns and inequality.

For all around me is a sense of optimism and gratitude.

Muhammad Ali did that to people, in death as in life.

I'm standing on a modest street in a troubled, still largely segregated city in Kentucky. And everyone here is telling me that if they work hard, and treat people fairly, the sky is the limit.

Grand Avenue in Louisville is where Muhammad Ali grew up. It is of course anything but grand. But the dreams and aspiration are as great here as in much richer neighborhoods. That is Ali's legacy.

What's most striking is that Muhammad Ali is not being treated as a former boxer, or a celebrity, or a sporting icon who has died.

He is being regarded as a teacher.

The childhood home of Muhammad Ali Credit: PA

That is why parents have brought their children to watch the funeral procession. In Ali's life, there are lessons.

Lessons on working hard. On dreaming big. On protesting racial injustice. On treating people with respect.

That is some tribute to The Champ from his hometown. He could not wish for more.

Muhammad Ali - 1942 - 2017 Credit: PA