John Cena to receive 2018 Muhammad Ali Legacy Award

John Cena will be honored at next month’s Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Awards.

Sports Illustrated has announced that Cena will receive the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award at the Sportsperson of the Year ceremony in Los Angeles, California on December 11. Colin Kaepernick won the award in 2017, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown & Bill Russell, Jack Nicklaus, and Magic Johnson have won it since 2014. It was formerly known as the “Legacy Award” before being renamed in honor of Ali in 2015.

The award honors a sports figure “who embodies the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy and has used sports as a platform to make the world a better place.”

“I am truly thrilled to receive Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award,” Cena said. “Ali’s commitment to helping others, his dedication to the sport and his generous spirit are incomparable and he was a role model to us all. To be linked with him in any way is an honor that means so much to me.”

“From his unparalleled work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to his support for a wide range of causes ranging from activism for military families to cancer research, John has made personal outreach and generosity of time and spirit his calling cards,” Sports Illustrated executive editor Stephen Cannella said. “He might just be the most charitable person in sports, and his dedication to philanthropy richly reflects the spirit of the Ali Legacy Award.”

For the first time since he pulled out of being in the World Cup tournament at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, Cena will return to WWE at Raw’s house show at Madison Square Garden on December 26. He’s been announced for 13 shows in December and January, including two Raw episodes and a SmackDown taping.