>> well, you know, he intersects with all the great themes of the last half of the 20th century which are, of course, all the themes we're wrestling with. the role of sports in society, the role of black athletes, the definition of black masculinity and black manhood, the nature of the civil rights or the human justice movement. race. politics. war. sex. it's all there. and he's there. and his story comes down to a kind of a theme of freedom. it's really difficult for a black person in america to escape the specific gravity of the almost daily injustices that are visited. it's about courage, not just in the ring in this brutal and sometimes beautiful sport but refusing in the case of muhammad ali to accept -- accept induction into the united states army during the vietnam war. and it's about love. this man died the most beloved person on this planet, admired by billions with a "b." and so what we wanted to do, sarah burns, david mcmahon, my