We already know that fictional shows which focus on the trials and tribulations of athletes tend to be popular among fans of good drama, but it's also true that sports shows which detail the struggles and triumphs of those we've come to know and love (or hate) in the real world are also popular forms of entertainment. Well, a new show is coming to television that will focus on the life of Muhammad Ali, and it should be a pretty interesting show for his fans and anyone who loves boxing or sports in general. CBS All Access and Morgan Freeman's Revelations Entertainment are working on 8 Fights - The Life of Muhammad Ali for the streaming service.
8 Fights - The Life of Muhammad Ali will be a limited event series about Ali which focuses on eight specific moments in the life of the famed boxer, with each episode being framed by one fight of his career. The series, which will be written by Dan Kay and is based on the Jonathan Eig biography Ali: a Life, will devote most of its attention to Ali's heart and mind by focusing on the internal struggles and the fights in his life that occurred outside of the boxing ring which led to the late boxer becoming one of the most important and controversial figures in sports.
According to Deadline, the pitch for 8 Fights - The Life of Muhammad Ali got attention from multiple outlets before being scooped up by CBS All Access. The show currently has a script-to-series commitment, meaning that a straight-to-series order for the show will be contingent on CBS All Access deciding that the script is up to snuff.
The unauthorized biography on which the show will be based, Ali: A Life, was released in October 2017 and uses over 500 interviews with most of Muhammad Ali's surviving friends, family and associates to paint a picture of his life. The author also used thousands of pages of FBI and Justice Department records and recently discovered interviews from the 1960s to bring every detail of the man who called himself "The Greatest" to the page. The book has won the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing and was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/Auto-biography.
8 Fights - The Life of Muhammad Ali will certainly go a long way toward bringing the life of one of the most intriguing sports figures of the twentieth century to life. CinemaBlend will keep you up to date on information regarding the show as it becomes available to us. In the meantime, be sure to check out what you can catch on the small screen with our midseason premiere guide, Netflix premiere guide, summer premiere guide and Amazon premiere guide.
