It’s not often in any sport that an athlete can announce to the world that they’re the greatest of all time unless they have what it takes to back it up. That’s exactly what Muhammad Ali did on many occasions and it’s how he started his professional rise to the top of the boxing world under his birth name Cassius Clay. To me, Muhammad Ali was, and still is, the greatest Heavyweight champ of all time. Given the imprint he left inside the ring and on the world at large, Ali’s story transcends sports to a level few people ever get to achieve. Not only is Muhammad Ali a living legend, he's a true American hero that became an inspiration to millions across the world. Now on DVD (August 12) via PBS Home Video, Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami delves into the early life of one of the 20th Century’s greatest, most influential icons.

What did Muhammad Ali mean to me? Well, aside from owning the popular Muhammad Ali action figure of the day, I remember watching the live (taped delayed) images of the "Thrilla in Manila" clash with Joe Frasier and the "Rumble in the Jungle" with George Foreman, Ali’s bouts with Leon Spinks, and later his tragic defeats to his former sparring partner Larry Holmes and the up and coming Trevor Berbick. Looking back, I’m lucky to have memories of Ali in his prime even though I was a young kid. Although I was part of the culture that saw Ali’s greatness and subsequent defeats that stripped him of his glory, at the time I knew nothing of his rise to the top of the boxing world in Miami’s Fifth Street Gym.

Prior to renouncing his birth name of Cassius Clay in favor of his traditional Muslim name of Muhammad Ali given to him by the Nation of Islam’s Elijah Muhammad, Clay was an 18-year old boxer on the rise after winning the Light Heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. After the Olympics, Clay traveled to Miami with the goal of becoming the next Heavyweight champion of the boxing world. What he didn’t know was that he’d become the greatest Heavyweight champ during one of the most volatile periods in American history. Beginning the year after Clay won Olympic gold, Made in Miami reveals through original footage and new and old interviews with those closest to the champ at the time, most prominently his former trainer Angelo Dundee, Ali’s time in Overtown, the Miami neighborhood dubbed the "Harlem South", was where his professional career began after he dismantled the imposing Sonny Liston to win the title. The funny thing about Ali’s bout with Liston was that everyone thought Ali was going to be humiliated.

Free of narration, Made in Miami brilliantly balances Ali’s boxing career from his title bout with Sonny Liston and subsequent rematch to the tumultuous associations he formed with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad and the stance he took on the Vietnam War, which ultimately resulted in Ali sacrificing three years of boxing at the most crucial moment in his career. After forming a close bond with Malcolm X, the doc sheds light on how Ali was caught in the middle of a power struggle between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, which exposed the champ’s steadfast loyalties to the Nation of Islam. The mini-doc, a 60-minute special from PBS, also reveals the fallout of Ali’s decisions and how his life as the champ and as a civil rights icon impacted his personal relationships, including his early family life. One of the most powerful yet subtle moments of the DVD is when we learn what happened to Sonny Liston after losing the title to Ali. It’s a sad story.

Although the only supplemental material on the disc comes in the form of a "A Conversation with the Producers", which offers up engaging side- info that taps into Ali’s universal appeal and the reason for making the special, the heart of the DVD is the feature itself. While you’ll definitely find other documentaries that cover the Ali’s career from front to back, you won’t find many that devout an entire hour to his time in Miami. To be honest, you could have 100 different DVDs on the life Muhammad Ali and your life would be better enriched because of them. It’s a powerful emotional journey of Ali’s early years that taps into the rise of the greatest boxer of all time, as famous "Fight Doctor" Ferdie Pacheco so aptly stated, "Cassius Clay was born in Louisville, but Muhammad Ali was made in Miami."