Journey To 1970s Atlanta With "Fight Night"

A retelling of Muhammed Ali’s famous fight in Atlanta

Audiences were taken for a ride through the 1970s in Atlanta with Peacock’s upcoming series, “Fight Night: A Million Dollar Heist.” The show, which screened at the Regal Cinema in Atlantic Station, puts Black Hollywood’s most prominent faces such as Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, and Don Cheadle under the backdrop of a Blaxploitation-style crime dramedy retelling the events that surrounded Muhammed Ali’s famous Atlanta fight against Jerry Quarry.

The pilot episode mainly follows the narratives of the three characters Chicken Man (Kevin Hart), Detective JD Hudson (Don Cheadle), and Muhammed Ali (Dexter Darden). In some way, each character is in a fight for their reputation, Ali’s fight being more literal as this is his first fight since his infamous draft dodge which resulted in mass amounts of hatred from white Americans.

Detective Hudson’s fight for his reputation is based on his lost graces from Atlanta’s Black community, successfully protecting Ali from potential assassination attempts is his chance to feel less hated in his job. Chicken Man, an unsuccessful pimp, is looking to find respect in the world of Atlanta Hustlers where he is otherwise seen as a joke, he devises a plan to use the hype surrounding the return of the champion to throw a party gathering of Black bosses around the country in hopes to build the validity of his network.  

Beyond the obvious plot, the show carries the theme of displaying Black people in positions of influence and power, in the not-so-distant post-Jim Crow South at that.

In a roundtable discussion led by student journalists from the AUC and other HBCU publications, greater insight was given into the show’s conception and significance. 

Based on an iHeartRadio Podcast, executive producer, Will Packer, believed that the original format is one of the main reasons for the show being greenlit saying, “Part of the reason for creating it as a podcast was to help shape the narrative.” 

When asked what sort of answers Fight Night provides in context to the audience and the world, writer Shaye Ogbonna expressed, “Seeing Black people in the 70s be aspirational and enterprising like this city is, that was what drew me to this story.” 

Underneath the disco tech flash of any ‘70s period piece, lies the story of a come-up not only for the characters but for the city of Atlanta itself. It ends on a cliffhanger, but audiences can expect the series to officially be released on September 5, 2024, on Peacock.