Muhammad Ali's death announced by Miami baseball team hours before official confirmation

'We wanted to honour him as quickly as possible. His legacy will live forever'

Boxing legend Muhammed Ali rides with Miami Marlins owner Jeffery Loria (Getty Images)

An American baseball team are understood to have made the first public announcement of Muhammad Ali’s death, hours before it was officially announced or confirmed.

Following a baseball game at Marlins Park, Florida on Friday night, the Miami Marlins showed Neil Leifer’s iconic photograph of Ali holding up his boxing glove over defeated Sonny Liston on their main scoreboard with the caption “1942 – 2016”, effectively announcing his death.

The picture is understood to have appeared at 10:05pm, around two hours before his family officially confirmed that Ali had died. Until then, news outlets had still been reporting that the legendary boxing champion was in hospital with a respiratory infection.

The team received criticism for the image after it spread on social media, however the team’s president David Samson defended the decision saying a person close to the family had confirmed the news to the team.

Mr Samson told the Miami Herald: “It was not an error. We were informed by someone close to the family that he had passed away. We wanted to get a tribute out as soon as we possibly could.”

Ali is understood to have had close links to the Miami Marlins, throwing the first pitch at the opening of the Marlins’ ball park in 2012. His image is also featured in the Marlins’ clubhouse with a plaque displaying one of his quotes.

“He’s an important part of our organisation,” Mr Samson said. “He opened our new ballpark… and has a close relationship [with the Marlins], we wanted to honour him as quickly as possible. His legacy will live forever.”

Marlins senior director of communications Matt Roebuck further explained the decision to announce Ali’s death. He told USA Today: “We wanted to honour [Ali's] legacy and put a message on the scoreboard at the conclusion of the game, and we were unaware at the time that the announcement of [Ali's] passing had not been made public.

"Ali is a close friend of several members of our organization so there is a connection there."

Ali died on Friday aged 74. His death was confirmed by his family in a statement saying they "would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and support" and asked for privacy.

He had battled Parkinson's disease for more than 30 years and was admitted to hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, with a respiratory condition earlier in the week.