Muhammad Ali/Ken BurnsBBC2

Ken Burns, the American documentary maker, is a man much admired on the Rust.   

You pretty much know that any documentary by him will be well-researched, non judgmental and have excellent footage and interviews.

This 8-parter on arguably the biggest figure in sport ever was no exception.

The first part traced his early years: his upbringing in Louisville Kentucky, his gold medal at the Rome Olympiad and his early boxing career.

Two aspects you immediately noticed; his astonishing hand and foot speed and his ability – even at 20 – to self promote.

He moved down to Miami to the gym of Angelo Dundee and Life magazine did an interview. For the benefit of the interview he said he would show how he trained under water – a total myth to attract publicity.

He was also the first boxer in an age of mob corruption to have a proper management contract from the consortium of 11 Louisville business names who paid him a salary, paid his taxes (the undoing of Joe Louis) and generally protected him from malign influencers.

Muhammad Ali’s extraordinary life falls neatly into parts.

The first set covers the Cassius Clay youth; then we will see his journey to the title with his fights against Henry Cooper and two against Sonny Liston; his title defences with superb victories over Cleveland Williams and more troublesome ones over the German Southpaw Karl Mildenberger and Oscar Bonavena; the decision to avoid the draft to Vietnam that cost him the title and three years out of boxing; the unforgettable 3 matches with Joe Frazier and recovering the title from George Foreman in the Rumble In The Jungle; the final physical decline.

Ken Burns, who does his groundwork and does not go in for unreliable revelation, is exactly the man to record this life.