When We Were Kings

Probably one of the greatest boxers, Muhammad Ali was the stepping stone in boxing history. This documentary tells the story of Muhammad Ali. It shows many behind the scenes as well as interviews and actual fights. One of the most important parts in this documentary was the fight between Ali and George Foreman. This fight has been known to be “The Fight”; speed against power. In the end, it was Muhammad Ali who overtook the champion and proved many people wrong.

I enjoyed this documentary very much because the time I watched it was when I started to watch boxing more often. I thought it was very educational as well as entertaining. It’s a great story for anyone, whether or not you’re interested in boxing or not because it has a lot of interesting visuals as well as information about Muhammad Ali and boxing in general. My favourite part was probably the actual fight between the two because I enjoy more fast-paced fighting than anything else. I felt that Muhammad’s story was sort of a Cinderella story because of his opponent’s career and how Ali won in the end.

George Foreman was known to be a powerhouse but at the same time, a man with quick speed for his size. Muhammad was known to be less powerful but faster. His motto was, “fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee”, which meant he was very light and quick but still packed a punch. This is exactly how the fight went in the end. Ali was doing fine during the first few rounds of the fight, but suddenly Foreman was starting to throw more punches and a lot of them made contact with Muhammad. A lot of people started to get worried about Ali because he seemed to not throw many punches and only stayed in a defensive stance throughout most of the beginning and middle of the whole fight. Within the next few rounds after that, however, Ali starts to show signs of a comeback. Foreman started to slow down and drop his arms more often, which gave Ali the upper-hand to knock him down. It turns out that being in that defensive stance was his plan to just wear Foreman out. In the end, Ali won the battle.

This is the kind of story that seems to be only in fairy tales and just a Hollywood story. It has a bit of everything in this documentary. A touch of comedy, action, and drama. I recommend watching this whenever you can.