ALI - Ken Burns series on BBC2 tomorrow.

Saw this advertised, lookin forward to it.

 

You're just getting it. In the States we got it in September.

 

September?? What a bloody medieval country we are!

 

It was good. Wasn't afraid to show Ali was just as flawed a person as the rest of us. Also accurately represents his politics which there seems to be lots of confusion about

 

When I'm in my car I listen to BBC on Sirius for their coverage of the Russian invasion.

 

For British viewers watching this live. The announcer before the programme...? WTactualF?

'Ken Bunes's documentary'...?

How hard is it to pronounce Burns? She had one job.

 

But other than that, excellent. I've been watching various documentaries on Sam Cooke, Quincy Jones, Motown, Atlantic Stax as well as the brilliant Green Book film, and I find American history of the 60s, particularly in the south absolutely riveting.

Of all the figures - JFK, RFK, Sinatra, Martin Luther King, J Edgar Hoover, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, James Brown to name but a few who featured in that era - I still find Ali the most captivating. This series looks like it has footage I haven't seen before.

It didn't answer the question I have often asked myself, though. Why is the wrestler, Gorgeous George, credited with Cassius Clay being so cocky? He'd already sparred with Ingo and called him 'sucker'. He'd told Floyd Patterson he'd see him in two years time, way back in 1960. Cassius was cocky long before he'd heard of George. I've never understood why this moment was seen as a sort of Epiphany that set him on the road to self-promotion.

 

Ken is the best

 

Just saw episode 1 , looks very promising , that was some left hook that he took from Banks, what is it about Ali and getting KD with left hooks ? wasn't aware he spared with Ingo ! Loving all the black and footage, already seen footage and photos I have never seen before can't wait for the next episode . stay safe guys.

 

Ali himself has said that George was a major influence on his public persona in his 1976 autobiography, "The Greatest".

 

"Sure. I'll go dancin' with Johansson". Apparently he really showed Ingo up. This was before the third Patterson fight when Ingo was training in Miami.

 

Given Burns's back catalogue, ( The Vietnam War, The American Civil War, Unforgiveable Blackness), This should be the definitive document on Ali.
First episode was excellent/