Former boxing champion Muhammed Ali has wished his grandson mazel tov on becoming a man.

Mr Ali's daughter Khaliah is married to a Jewish lawyer, and their son Jacob was barmitzvah earlier this year in Philadelphia.

Although the boxer brought his children up as Muslim, he is said to be supportive of his daughter's decision to marry someone Jewish and give Jacob a Jewish life.

"No one put any pressure on Jacob to believe one way or another," said Khaliah Ali-Wertheimer. "He chose this on his own because he felt a kinship with Judaism and Jewish culture."

The boxer, whose original name was Cassius Clay, joined the Nation of Islam in 1964 and changed his name. He has been married four times and has nine children.