On the advice of my friend and colleague Robert Rubino I ordered “Facing Ali” from Netflix. It is a knockout of a movie that focuses on interviews with fighters who fought Ali. They tell their stories and explain what it was like to fight Ali and what they think of him in retrospect.

Almost all of them like him. Ken Norton says fighting Ali turned his life around and he thanks Ali for the chance to fight him and says fighting him was an honor. George Foreman clearly has great respect for Ali. He explains how he thought he would knock out Ali easily in Zaire but Ali outsmarted him in the Rope A Dope Fight.

Ron Lyle, a really hard puncher whom Ali knocked out, actually seems to love Ali. He admires Ali’s stance on the Vietnam War and how Ali stood up for black men.

Others you meet in the movie are Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Ernie Terrell, Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks, George Chuvalo. I hope I’m not leaving anyone out. Some have trouble speaking but most have all their marbles. Chuvalo, who’s led a tragic life — his wife committed suicide, several sons died from drugs — is amazingly articulate and sensitive. He claims — and I believe him — Sonny Liston threw the second fight with Ali, going down in the first round.

Frazier has the hardest time saying nice things about Ali, although he rallies at the very end of the movie. He has every reason not to like Ali. Ali belittled him. The worst thing Ali did was to call him a gorilla and to walk around with a gorilla doll. If a white man did this he’d be a racist. Frazier believed he was more black than Ali, had lived a more difficult life and what Ali did was an affront to Frazier, his family and blacks. Frazier was correct.

All of which means, Ali was, and probably still is, a highly complex character.

If you like boxing see this film. If you like good films see this film.