This book is more than boxing. Ali’s life was enormous and his book taught me so much.

The author must have been aware that his score and accomplishments would be monitored by sport historians. Thus, the book puts you inside his brain and behind the scenes rather than providing a factual journalistic account of his matches: The intense preparation required for a match; the constant pressure and dangers he faced; His contact with a KKK victim who had been emasculated, whose tale inspired and strengthened him; his tactics to undermine an opponent outside of the ring.

The chapter that describes the process of refusing the draft, narrated with precision and suspense, leaves you biting your nails.

The only weakness I found are a few chapters in the middle dedicated to people Ali wanted to commemorate. These slow the pace down. Fair enough though.

It helps to complement the reading with a documentary to get the chronology in order and put some faces on the people.

Finally, it’s not a weakness, but just to know what to expect: the book does not cover his post boxing life. I guess The Greatest wanted to leave some work for the biographers.