BoxRec

Prime Video’s Muhammad Ali series 'The Greatest' set for premiere

Prime Video is entering the boxing ring with "The Greatest," a series that portrays the extraordinary life and career of Muhammad Ali.

A first-look teaser trailer was released at the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans over the weekend with a premiere date set for November 4 in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

"The Greatest" is the first authorized scripted series covering Ali's life.

The show is executive produced by Lonnie Ali, the widow of the late boxing icon, and by Oscar-winning actor Michael B. Jordan through his company, Outlier Society.

Actor Jaalen Best stars as Ali.

Best previously appeared in “All American: Homecoming” and “Magnum P.I.” Other cast members include Michael Ealy, Dana Gourrier, Amin Joseph and Kai Parham.

“It’s a show that’s designed to show you all the stuff that wasn’t in documentaries and isn’t available in terms of watching old fights and old interviews,” Ben Watkins, creator, showrunner and executive producer of "The Greatest," recently told Deadline.

“We filmed Season 1, which starts in 1960 when he wins the gold medal and ends in 1964 when he wins the heavyweight title for the first time. In between, there is a coming-of-age story, and a very intimate coming-of-age story that really shows a different side of Ali, who was then Cassius Clay.”

Watch the trailer:

ali, like tyson, has been covered so many times i never watch any of the stuff that comes out on them now

I guess as long as someone believes they can keep making money out of these biopics, they'll keep churning them out ad nauseum.

The problem with most of these attempts is that they're usually created from whatever is deemed an acceptable version of today's perspective, and not from the individual's own perspective or even from the perspective of the times in which the portrayed events occurred.

Things taken out of context, as we know, often don't make much sense.

Even worse, such retellings are often mere attempts to push forward some agenda that the people funding them want pushing.

As they say about all wars, truth is usually the first casualty.

Anyway, at least this one, set in 8 parts, promises to be a more intimate account, with period tint colours, even if it has been made under the watchful eye of the current Muhammad Ali estate.