Muhammad Ali, the world’s most celebrated living sportsman, will be the subject of a series of special programmes to mark his 70th birthday.
ITV will pay tribute to ‘The People’s Champion’ by examining his everlasting popularity among British sports fans and his relationship with the country that he came to love in a one-hour documentary titled When Ali Came to Britain.
The broadcaster has also commissioned a special series looking back at some of his best fights, which will be fronted by veteran sports broadcaster Desmond Lynam.
Ali: Still the Greatest will reflect on six of his greatest bouts with the help of archive footage and studio analysis from distinguished guests, including Barry McGuigan.
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When Ali Came to Britain
Monday 16th January – 10.35pm – ITV1 Watch on ITV Player – CLICK HEREThis one-hour documentary looks back at Muhammad Ali’s relationship with Britain spanning over five decades, and charts one of the most iconic and successful sporting careers of the twentieth century.
Using rare footage of Ali’s visits to Britain as well as previously unseen home videos of the former world heavyweight champion in this country, the film hears from the people that met him during his many visits to the UK, a country that he embraced from the stages of his boxing career and a place that grew to love him.
There will be contributions from Angelo Dundee, Ali’s former trainer who was in his corner for all of his UK-based fights, Brian London and Richard Dunn, who both faced the ‘The Greatest’ in the ring, and from the children of the late Sir Henry Cooper, who was his first British opponent and later close friend.
Ali first visited Britain in 1963 to take on Cooper, who was the British heavyweight champion at the time, and the film depicts the devastating power of ‘Henry’s Hammer’ punch that floored Ali on that famous night at Wembley.
There are also more revelations about the fight’s great controversies, from the ‘fixed’ weigh-in to Ali’s split glove, and the final word on whether Angelo Dundee used banned smelling salts to help his man recover from that famous knockdown.
Ali fought two more bouts in Britain, including a second fight against Henry Cooper and a mismatch against Brian London, who speaks of his regret at not putting up a sterner challenge to the world champion.
Yorkshireman Richard Dunn describes what it was like to face Ali at his peak and of the hero’s welcome he received back in Bradford after he had been soundly beaten inside five rounds.
The documentary also highlights the support Britain provided when Ali was stripped of his title and faced jail in the United States for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War in 1967.
He formed a lifelong friendship with bare-knuckle boxing champion Paddy Monaghan, who was so furious with the great fighter’s treatment that he launched a petition to get Ali’s boxing licence reinstated, and is famed for coining the phrase ‘The People’s Champion’.
The programme includes unseen home videos from Ali’s several visits to Monaghan’s home on an ordinary Oxfordshire estate, and recalls the moments when the great champion sparred with locals and signed autographs for the crowds.
It took until the 1970’s for Ali to become a true sporting superstar in the eyes of the British public.
Former ITV World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies recalls ‘An Audience with Muhammad Ali’, a prime-time show he hosted in 1974 with various contemporary British sporting figures in attendance.
Three years later, Ali visited Newcastle on a charity trip. Leslie Close was a teenager at the time and he tells the story of how he put Ali on the back foot in the boxing ring during his time on Tyneside.
Mohamed Hussein talks about trying to guard the door when Ali and his wife had their marriage blessed at his South Shields mosque and thousands of people turned up to see the most famous man on the planet.
As Ali’s health worsened his visits to Britain became less frequent. Despite suffering from the strains of Parkinson’s disease, he flew over to receive the BBC Sports Personality of the Century award in 1999, and famously quipped, “I had a great time boxing. I enjoyed it – and I may come back!”
He made his last trip to the UK in 2009, and former world light-welterweight champion Ricky Hatton talks about what it was like to meet him at his gym in Hyde.
The hour-long film, narrated by actor David Harewood, will also feature contributions from former heavyweight champion Frank Bruno, boxing writer Colin Hart, broadcasters Desmond Lynam and Gary Newbon, and former four-weight champion Duke McKenzie.
When Ali Came to Britain will encapsulate the life story of the greatest fighter the world has ever seen, and chart his impact on the British public.
This latest ITV boxing documentary follows on from the broadcaster’s critically acclaimed ‘The Fight of Their Lives’, which focused on the Nigel Benn and Gerald McClellan’s brutal and ultimately tragic 1995 encounter, a film which took more than four years to make.
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Ali: Still The Greatest
Starts Tuesday 17th January – ITV4
In conjunction with the new Ali documentary, ITV4 will screen a special series charting his greatest fights, fronted by Desmond Lynam.
Ali: Still the Greatest will run over five nights, starting on January 16, and features footage from six of Ali’s most high profile fights.
Lynam will be joined by former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, and both will analyse and discuss the significance each fight and share their memories of Ali throughout the hour-long programmes.
Episode 1 – Tuesday 17th January – 10.05pm – ITV4
The series starts on the date of Ali’s 70th birthday, and begins with Ali clinching the world heavyweight title from Sonny Liston in 1965, as well as his second encounter with ‘The Big Bear’ a year later, which only lasted one round.
Episode 2 – Wednesday 18th January – 9pm – ITV4
The second episode reflects on Ali’s fights against British opposition. He fout six throughout his career, and the programme looks at two of his most memorable encounters against Henry Cooper, who he fought twice in the 1960s, and Joe Bugner.
Episode 3 – Thursday 19th January – 9pm – ITV4
There is an entire programme devoted to one of Ali’s most memorable bouts – the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ against George Foreman in 1974, for the WBC and WBA Heavyweight titles.
Foreman entered as the defending champion and was expected to defeat Ali after registering a number of convincing knockout victories in his career up to that point.
But Ali prevailed against the odds over his younger and more stronger opponent and once again proclaimed to the world that he was ‘the Greatest’.
Episode 4 – Friday 20th January – 9pm – ITV4
The penultimate episode features the best action from Ali’s third and final fight against Joe Frazier in 1975, which was famously billed as ‘Thrilla in Manila’.
Each fighter had one win apiece from their previous two contests, but this proved to be the most memorable of the trilogy.
Episode 5 – Saturday 21st January – 9pm – ITV4
The series concludes with the closing stages of Muhammad Ali’s career as a professional boxer. He faced the imposing Ken Norton for a third time in 1976, before losing and then regaining the World Heavyweight title against the unfancied Leon Spinks.
Ali: Still The Greatest marks the welcome return of Des Lynam to UK television. The 69-year-old, who hosted the BBC’s coverage of major bouts involving top British fighters in the 1980s, was the face of the corporation’s sports output for many years, until he famously defected to ITV in 1999.
His last regular TV role was as host of Channel 4’s teatime gameshow Countdown, and last anchored a major sports event for ITV at Euro 2004, having announced his retirement from live sports broadcasting earlier that year.
He also appeared on the defunct Setanta Sports channel commercials and conducted a series of star interviews for the broadcaster, including a special feature with Joe Calzaghe.
