LeBron James Comments on Muhammad Ali

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali died Friday night at a hospital in Phoenix at the age of 74, and athletes around the world have chimed in on his everlasting legacy since the news broke. 

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is among those who took time to reflect on the heavyweight champion's accomplishments—but he focused more on Ali's social significance than his athletic prowess in a conversation with ESPN.com's Chris Broussard, just hours before Ali's death.   

"When I was a kid, I was amazed by what Ali did in the ring," James said, per Broussard. "As I got older and started to read about him and watch things about him, I started to realize what he did in the ring was secondary to what he meant outside of the ring—just his influence, what he stood for."

Namely, James homed in on the way Ali carried himself as an activist for equal rights and how he paved the way for African-American athletes in the modern age, per Broussard: 

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The reason why he's the GOAT is not because of what he did in the ring, which was unbelievable. 

It's what he did outside of the ring, what he believed in, what he stood for, along with Jim Brown and Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor -- obviously, who became Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] -- Bill Russell, Jackie Robinson. Those guys stood for something. He's part of the reason why African-Americans today can do what we do in the sports world. We're free. They allow us to have access to anything we want. It's because of what they stood for, and Muhammad Ali was definitely the pioneer for that.

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"He's the greatest of all time, and he was the greatest of all time, because of what he did outside the ring," James added on Saturday, per Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated. "Without [Muhammad] Ali, I wouldn't be sitting up here. I wouldn't be able to walk in restaurants. He was the first icon. He's the GOAT."

NBA Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar echoed James' sentiment Saturday with a commemorative post on Facebook:

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To the African-American community, he was a black man who faced overwhelming bigotry the way he faced every opponent in the ring: fearlessly. At a time when blacks who spoke up about injustice were labeled uppity and often arrested under one pretext or another, Muhammad willingly sacrificed the best years of his career to stand tall and fight for what he believed was right. In doing so, he made all Americans, black and white, stand taller. I may be 7’2" but I never felt taller than when standing in his shadow.

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Ali's greatness transcended the realm of sports, and his fighting spirit and willingness to challenge convention in all aspects of life should endure as a permanent piece of his legacy.