The Greatest Review: Jaalen Best Shines as Young Ali

The season picks up right after the Olympic triumph, with Clay setting his sights on the Heavyweight Championship while the world around him starts to shift in ways he didn't plan for. Fame lands fast, and so does the self-doubt. There's family conflict on the home front, a politically charged America that keeps intruding on his corner, and the slow dawning realization that the toughest opponent won't be standing across the ring. Omari Hardwick and Dana Gourrier anchor the family side of things as Cash and Odessa "Bird" Clay, while Amin Joseph's Sonny Liston looms like a thundercloud on the horizon. Giovanni Ribisi brings a lived-in weirdness to Angelo Dundee, and Reno Wilson's Bundini Brown is exactly the kind of sideman who makes a locker room feel alive.

Here's the thing about playing Muhammad Ali: everybody thinks they know the guy. He's one of the most documented, quoted, and imitated humans of the twentieth century, and any actor stepping into that role is fighting uphill. Jaalen Best doesn't try to out-Ali Ali. He doesn't lean on the famous cadence or do an impression; instead, he finds the kid underneath - the one who's cocky in front of cameras and unsure of himself in the quiet moments. It's a performance built on small contradictions, and it's easily the reason to tune in. There's a scene where the bravado drops for just a second, and the whole show clicks into place.

The supporting cast does a lot of heavy lifting too. Hardwick's Cash is a father whose pride and worry are tangled up in ways that feel painfully real, and Gourrier gives Bird a warmth and steel that keeps the family story from turning into a backdrop. Joseph's Liston is used sparingly, which is smart - every appearance lands with weight because the show doesn't oversell him. Ribisi, meanwhile, is doing that thing he does where he's somehow the most normal and the strangest person in the room at once. It works.

Where the season stumbles is in its pacing. The show wants to be both a propulsive boxing drama and a slow-burn character study, and it doesn't always stick the landing between those two modes. Some stretches feel like they're waiting for the next big moment rather than earning it, and the political backdrop - which should be the show's richest material - sometimes gets gestured at rather than truly explored. For a story so defined by a man refusing to be owned by anyone, you want the world around him to feel as textured as he does. It gets close, but not all the way. A 4.9 on TMDb feels harsh for what's genuinely a strong central performance, though it does suggest audiences are split - and honestly, with this much ambition in a first season, split reactions make sense.

Still, as a debut season, The Greatest has real strengths: a discovery of a lead actor, an atmosphere that hums with late-fifties and early-sixties tension, and a willingness to treat its subject as a person rather than a monument. It's not perfect, but it's the kind of show you keep thinking about after the credits roll - and that counts for something.

Pros

• Jaalen Best is a genuine find, playing the man behind the myth with real nuance.
• Strong, grounded family dynamics courtesy of Hardwick and Gourrier.
• A sharp sense of period atmosphere that makes the era feel lived-in.
• Amin Joseph's Liston is used with restraint, and it pays off.

Cons

• Uneven pacing that drifts between boxing drama and character study.
• The political backdrop gets sketched rather than fully explored.
• Some storylines feel like they're treading water before the next big beat.

The Greatest is a strong opening round with a star-making turn at its center. It doesn't always land its punches, but when it does, you feel them. If the show can tighten up its pacing and dig deeper into the world around its hero in a second season, we could be looking at something special. For now, it's well worth streaming - especially for anyone who wants to see a familiar icon rendered as a young man still finding his footing.