It's difficult to measure Ali's importance as a boxer and leader in the civil rights movement. But it was definitely huge. He is in my opinion one of the greatest athletes of all time.

This might be the best sports-documentary, I've ever seen. And I've seen them all.

We all know how fantastic his life was and yet it's like a kid begging a parent to re-read the bedtime story over and over. The kid never gets tired of it and neither do I.

Could there be a more perfect athletic specimen than Ali at his blazing best?

He was witty, he was smart and he was genuinely likeable even as a braggart because you half knew he was doing it to sell tickets.

Remember? We used to watch his fights on 21 inch screens and be mesmerized , now we get to watch this documentary on giant screens with HDTV and it is even more amazing.

The speed with which he threw combinations and uppercuts, the way he dodged backwards to avoid haymakers by a fraction of a fraction, still has me gasping at the sheer impossibility of what he did. A heavyweight who fought like a welterweight, who was as fast as if not faster than, Sugar Ray Leonard, while weighing in 80lbs heavier.

Inside of this faster than light person was a flawed but honest individual, truly dedicated to his religious beliefs but giving in to the relentless adoration he received from females everywhere he went. Who else in his position wouldn't?

Ken Burns once again produces a masterpiece, even though there's not much new we find out about our hero.

I especially like the words from a poet in the final episode that describes Ali as a sorcerer, 'cos that's what he was; A skipping, shuffling sorcerer who could conjure up magic in the ring. He could destroy challengers and have us all laughing about the brutality afterwards.

But sadly , like all boxers.. he stayed at it too long. I don't care what they want to call it medically but in the end he was a punch drunk fighter. So hard to look at and so tragic a figure.

There will never be anyone who comes close to Muhammad Ali as an athlete or a personality and I am thankful that Ken Burns treated this story so well.

The ecstasy and the agony flow together like two rivers and if you're a fan of the person himself you'll find yourself tearing up on more than few occasions.

Well done Ken.

Of the over a dozen documentaries on the life of Ali -- which this reviewer has seen -- this is the best, the sharpest, the most nuanced. It deals albeit indirectly with the unspoken issue of whether Ali really was the best boxer ever (even at his peak) or whether it is what the Japanese call his "fighting spirit" which put him over the top. Fighting spirit may well be what kept this incredible man in the minds and hearts of the public for so many years. A similar story will hopefully be told one day about Elvis, also at one time the greatest in his chosen vocation, who similarly was forced by circumstances to give up his throne too early, and take a very different direction. (Eg., search "Dentons Benton 2011")