‘It’s My Fourth and Final Marriage,’ Ali Says After Ceremony in Louisville

Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali married a 28-year-old woman from his native Louisville Wednesday and told his lawyer “It’s my fourth and final marriage.”

Ali’s lawyer, Richard Hirschfeld, said the champion and Lonnie Williams tentatively planned a honeymoon in Tahiti.

The surprise ceremony was held in a private home with a few family members and friends attending. Jefferson County Judge-Executive Harvey Sloane performed the ceremony.

“He approached our office about a marriage license and, so he wouldn’t be quite so public about it, we helped him out on it,” Sloane said. “I asked if he would like me to perform the ceremony and I’m very happy to say that he and his wife wanted that to happen.”

The three-time heavyweight champion, 44, has been suffering from slurred speech and slowed movements in recent years. Doctors diagnosed the ailment as Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984 but did not relate it to punches he had absorbed in the ring.