*It was an inspirational night at LA Live’s Regal Cinema Wednesday, May 8th as legends walk the red or should we say black carpet for the screening of “What’s My Name Muhammad Ali.”
Boxing figures Sugar Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya, and Sugar Ray Leonard spoke to EURweb about how Ali not only inspired but guided their careers inside and outside of the ring.
“He has inspired me a lot throughout my career by just being who he was. He represented so much strength within himself.” Mosley continued ”He was the type of person that believes in himself all the way to the end, even when people doubted him.”
De La Hoya added, “ When he tackled a situation, whether it was politically driven, whether it was defending humanity, he never quit in the middle, he fought it through until the end.”
HBO’s new two-part documentary was directed by Antoine Fuqua and Executive Produced by Maverick Carter and LeBron James SpringHill Entertainment. It took Fuqua four years to gather audio and historical footage to make sure this feature was only told by the late great Ali himself.
“ Lonnie Ali helped us a lot. The family helped us a lot. But it was hard to find it and dig it up and audio as well. But about the certain subjects, I wanted to cover. So you know I was editing, hoping I would find footage coverage about him talking about that moment.”
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EURweb also got to speak with his wife and daughters as the evening slowly turned into a family affair, they pretty much all expressed the same feeling of excitement to finally see the feature.
“ I’m excited that it’s all my father, that it’s all just a collection footage from him in his own voice and not, like, you know a bunch of other people and their opinion or their conversation about the past.” Laila Ali stated.
Daughter Hana Ali clutched the new book she wrote about her dad as she implied “ I’m excited actually because I’ve been talking with Steven Leckart, the writer, licensed some of the recordings my father made to the film. So I ‘m excited to see it.”
Wife Lonnie Ali gave it straight by saying “All of us have our opinions, a lot of the times we get it wrong with Muhammad but when it comes out of his mouth it’s not going to be wrong.” She went on to say “You’re going to get the actual truth about why he feels a certain way and why he did certain things and I think that’s important that people get that authentic viewpoint from him.”
With cameras flashing while some of the most beloved in sports filled the venue It was evident that Muhammad still remains a staple in boxing and an icon for social activism.
“What’s My Name Muhammad Ali” airs on HBO Tuesday, May 14.
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