‘Fight Night’ is based on the true story of Muhammad Ali and a $1 million heist

The spectacular premise of Peacock’s “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” seems like pure fiction: Armed robbers force the country’s most notorious gangsters to hand over $1 million in cash and jewelry at a secret party following Muhammad Ali’s triumphant return to the boxing world.

Even Atlanta-based executive producer Will Packer was stunned when he learned of the brazen burglary that actually occurred after Ali’s fight in Atlanta on October 26, 1970.

“It was like, ‘Yo, how did I never hear about this robbery?’ This is insane,” said Packer, who also executive produced the 2020 iHeart “Fight Night” podcast on which the dramatic TV series is based. “A bunch of gangsters get robbed after a fight with Muhammad Ali, and it turns the city of Atlanta upside down, and yet to this day it’s the biggest robbery in Georgia history.”

Peacock’s “Fight Night” takes dramatic liberties in telling the story, which centers on ambitious local businessman Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart). Williams makes moves by throwing the extravagant party to impress the Black Mafia, including “Black Godfather” Frank Moten (Samuel L. Jackson), who rules New York’s underworld, and his New Jersey partner, Richard “Cadillac” Wheeler (Terrence Howard).

This is what’s remarkably true in “Fight Night” (the first three episodes are streaming now).

Muhammad Ali returned to boxing in Atlanta, igniting a flame in his heart

Ali (Dexter Darden) had been sidelined and banned from boxing for more than three years after refusing to serve in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector. While many states refused to grant Ali a boxing license, powerful Georgia Senator Leroy Johnson (Ron Reaco Lee) pushed through Ali’s comeback fight in Atlanta against heavyweight boxer Jerry Quarry (nicknamed “The Great White Hope”).

The sold-out event at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium drew international attention: celebrities (Sidney Poitier, Arthur Ashe and Diana Ross), politicians and prominent gangsters from across the country.

“It was this elite black crowd from all walks of life that came to what was slowly becoming a black city, Atlanta,” said Shaye Ogbonna, creator and executive producer of “Fight Night.” “It was the gangster class, it was rich people, it was celebrities all coming together.”

In the third round, Ali hit Quarry with a punch that left a cut above his eye, resulting in a technical knockout and cheers throughout Atlanta.

Ali’s boxing rebirth was a big night for Atlanta and the beginning of a special relationship between the city and the legendary boxer. It culminated at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, where Ali lit the Olympic Cauldron to kick off the games.

“Ali fell in love with Atlanta and came back many times,” Packer says. “But the iconic moment, of course, is Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame.”

The ‘Chicken Man’ afterparty turned into a shotgun robbery

Dozens of fashionably dressed partygoers descended in limousines on Williams’s home for the post-game party, bearing specially engraved invitations. Inside, they were met by two masked armed robbers, one brandishing a sawed-off shotgun, who herded them into the home’s basement.

The guests were ordered to strip down to their underwear and hand over their money and jewelry, which police later estimated to be worth more than $1 million (about $8 million today).

Ogbonna discovered that he had grown up in the neighborhood where the infamous party was held when he photographed the exterior of the venue for “Fight Night.” Even on his day off, Jackson came to watch.

“Sam just walked onto the set and took it all in,” Ogbonna says. “His wife is from the neighborhood and he got married around the corner. He was like a historian. There were so many real things happening in this story.”

Williams, who earned his colorful nickname “Chicken Man” for the chicken sandwiches he handed out, was immediately suspected of orchestrating the robbery because it was his home and the party. And there was another suspicious detail: The stripped-down Williams was the only guest wearing long underwear on the cold October night, suggesting he came prepared. Williams credibly maintained he had nothing to do with the robbery until his death in 2014.

JD Hudson was tasked with protecting Ali and solving the robbery

J.D. Hudson (Don Cheadle), one of Atlanta’s first black police lieutenants, played two key roles in the “Fight Night” affair. First, Hudson was assigned to protect Ali before and during the fight, escorting the fighter to the ring and then scanning the crowd for trouble.

After the robbery, Hudson was assigned to solve the sensational crime that cost millions of dollars.

“JD Hudson is a story about himself, one of the first black police officers in the South in the ’70s,” Ogbonna says. “He’s a very complicated character, and we get to see policing from a black perspective, dealing with everything that Hudson had to deal with.”

At least the gangsters got some of their revenge for the robbery before Hudson and his police colleagues solved the crime.

On May 26, 1971, The New York Times reported that two men shot dead in the Bronx had been linked to the Atlanta robbery.

“We said last fall that it was just a matter of who got them first — the police or the victims,” Hudson is quoted as saying. “It appears the victims got there first.”