When you’re “The Greatest,” it’s okay to celebrate your birthday early. Muhammad Ali turns 70 Tuesday. But the first of several planned parties started Saturday with singing. Al Jazeera reports...

“Louisville welcoming home a favorite son. One of the most beloved people in the world on his 70th birthday. Muhammad Ali’s old now, his body ravaged by 30 years of illness. But he still lights up the room.”

This party doubled as a fundraiser for the Ali Center, a cultural and education complex in Ali’s hometown. CBS Sports looks at the numbers and more...

“The guest list numbered 350 for the private party, which doubled as a $1,000-per-person fundraiser … [it] included Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee and three American hikers who were imprisoned in Iran. Ali, perhaps the most prominent U.S. Muslim, lobbied for their release.”

Throughout his life, Ali won belts for boxing, and celebrated quiet victories in social activism. He received much criticism for his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. Here’s Ali on WGBH’s “Say Brother” in 1969...

“Black people really don’t have nothing to fight for. We go to Vietnam, we come back. I saw a brother coming back through the airport with no arms and one leg cut off, couldn’t find nobody to push him to a taxi cab.”

Even when he’s remembered as a boxer, references to Ali, the person, pour out. His rival in the ring -- and now friend for life, George Foreman describes Ali in an interview with The Telegraph. He says...

“Boxing was such a small part of what he could do. … really, nobody could beat Muhammad Ali. Even when you beat him, people said you hadn’t really beaten him, nobody would say that he had lost, and they still wanted to get his autograph, and get the chance to get hugged and kissed by him.”