Product Details

• Actors: Muhammad Ali
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, Dolby, Limited Edition, VHS
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: HBO Video
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000MFZT72
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,284 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

MUHAMMAD ALI - BOXING'S BEST was produced for an HBO television series on great heavyweights, a series that also includes Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey. Each program runs about one hour. The documentary includes ring action as well as other important events in the life of Muhammad Ali. Host Barry Tompkins interviews the owner of the Louisville gym where Ali (then Clay) first trained, and also interviews with his longtime trainer Angelo Dundee. There are a number of period film footage interviews with Ali, most of the pre-fight buildup variety. Rare early fight footage is also featured, including his 1960 Olympic finals victory and his first professional bout with Tunny Hunsaker. Other highlights include his bouts with Archie Moore (1962), Sonny Liston (both I and II) when in the first fight the odds against him were 8 to 1, Cleveland Williams, Zora Folley, Oscar Bonavena, Joe Frazier (I, II and III: "The Thrilla in Manila"), Leon Spinks, and Larry Holmes. The documentary offers brief insight of the complex nature of Ali's personality that made him the continued focus of media and the public during the peak of his career in the 1960's and 1970's. Ali was full of witticisms before cameras and was often requoted for his own motto: "Fly like a butterfly - sting like a bee". Boxing history is brought to life in this unique collection of physical and verbal bouts with the man they called "The Greatest".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Butterfly, bee, Clay, Ali, January 12, 2010

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Muhammad Ali - Boxing's Best (Sports Illustrated) (VHS Tape)

"BOXING'S BEST: Muhammad Ali" was originally a free gift offered with a subscription to a popular sports magazine. It's a clean HiFi dub of a 1981 HBO documentary on the boxer that his trainer Angelo Dundee freely admits here to being the greatest heavyweight of all time.

Mostly brief, often low-contrast fight clips are interspersed with commentary or equally short excerpts of training, press conferences and news reports. Little of Muhammad Ali's life beyond the usual anecdotes is revealed. Missing is the thrashing Ali gave former champ Floyd Patterson, who insisted on calling him "Clay." Also no mention of the famous simulated 1969 battle with Rocky Marciano

Non-fight CONTENTS:
Host Barry Tompkins speaks with Joe Martini, Columbus Gym owner (Louisville) who was first to train 12-year-old Cassius Clay | Angelo Dundee admits to tearing Clay's glove in the Henry Cooper bout | Prefight publicity, Clay vs. Liston | Sonny trains for rematch | Ali's draft status changed after Williams match | Out of boxing 3 yrs. 8 mos., Ali speaks at colleges | Bonavena calls Ali a chicken during mutual news event, Muhammad promises he'll pay | Frazier press conference | Pre-fight comments on Foreman's "dirty" style | Media event, 3rd Frazier bout | Both boxers comment after Spinks wins title | Dundee's closing remarks include "greatest" assessment

FIGHT CLIPS:
Rome, 1960: defeats Polish boxer for light heavyweight gold medal
10/29/60: First pro fight, decision over Tunney Hunsacker
11/15/62: KO of 48-year-old Archie Moore
2/25/64: TKO of Sonny Liston, who didn't answer 7th round bell (narrator blames Liston's corner), Clay new champ
5/25/65: Self-renamed Ali's "phantom punch" that KO's challenger Liston in Round 1
11/14/66: 3rd round TKO of Cleveland Williams
3/22/67: Zora Folley KOed in 7th round
12/7/70: In his ring comeback, Ali punishes Oscar Bonavena; 3 knockdown TKO in 15th round
3/8/71: First Frazier fight; decision for Joe
3/31/73: 12 round loss to Ken Norton after Ken fractures Ali's jaw
9/10/73: Ali wins Norton rematch by decision
1/28/74: Unanimous decision over Joe Frazier
10/30/74: "Rumble in the jungle" 8th round KO of George Foreman
9/30/75: In "Thrilla in Manila," Joe Frazier's corner stops fight in 14th round
2/15/78: Loses split decision and title to challenger Leon Spinks
9/15/78: Belt regained in unanimous decision over Spinks
10/2/80: 11 round TKO defeat to Larry Holmes, the new champ*

*(This is called Ali's swan song, but he fought once more, a 12/11/81 loss to Trevor Berbick.)

TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 57 minutes