{"id":663936,"date":"2026-05-12T06:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/663936\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T06:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:58:16","slug":"muhammad-alis-widow-touts-late-boxers-package-at-amazon-upfront","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/663936\/","title":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali’s Widow Touts Late Boxer’s ‘Package’ at Amazon Upfront"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMuhammad Ali<\/a>\u2018s widow, Lonnie Ali, got pretty personal with Amazon<\/a>\u2018s upfront crowd on Monday. Introduced by Michael B. Jordan<\/a>, who is producing a series about her late husband\u2019s formative years, Lonnie provided what the kids call \u201cTMI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the event, the pair spoke about casting Jaalen Best<\/a> (All American: Homecoming, Magnum P.I.\u00a0and\u00a0American Horror Stories) to portray the late professional boxer and global icon in Prime Video<\/a>\u2018s The Greatest.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt had to be a very special person to play that part. And we knew from the star that whoever plays Ali has got to be Ali,\u201d Lonnie said. \u201cHe has to have the courage, the conviction, the heart, he has to have the looks, all of it, you know, he has to have the looks, Muhammad was pretty. We searched everywhere, had to have the package, as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Jordan, as well as the room, laughed in response, she added, \u201cReally, he did. He really did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe was the man, right? He was the man. So we needed the man,\u201d Lonnie continued. \u201cWe looked high and low, but I\u2019m telling you, Muhammad would be so proud, so proud of this young man. I can\u2019t wait for you to meet Jaalen Best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scripted drama will explore the life of the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. \u201cThe amazing victories and defeats that made Ali a legend, both in and out of the ring, have been well documented and while those landmark events will live in\u00a0The Greatest, the heartbeat of the story is fueled by all the moments that took place outside of the spotlight. The world remembers an icon, but\u00a0The Greatest\u00a0is about a man, a husband, a father, a brother, and a son,\u201d Prime Video previously shared of the series.<\/p>\n

\n\tJordan is executive producing alongside Lonnie, Ben Watkins (who is also serving as showrunner), Elizabeth Raposo, Corey Salter, Marc Rosen and Matthew Gross. Additional executive producers include Roc Nation, Michele Anthony, Boyd Muir, David Blackman and Josh Wakely. Muhammad\u2019s estate is also signed on to the series.<\/p>\n

\n\tA release date for The Greatest has yet to be announced.<\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Kilkenny contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali\u2018s widow, Lonnie Ali, got pretty personal with Amazon\u2018s upfront crowd on Monday. Introduced by Michael B.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[971,49,48,361,75,8086,1605,1912,57866,245176],"class_list":["post-663936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-amazon","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-michael-b-jordan","tag-muhammad-ali","tag-prime-video","tag-upfronts","tag-upfronts-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}