The 'Moonlight' actor is set to play the world's first black heavyweight boxing champion in an upcoming TV show based on the documentary 'Unforgivable Blackness'.
- Jul 1, 2020
AceShowbiz - Two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has signed on to play boxing legend Jack Johnson in a new HBO series.
"Unruly" will be based on the documentary "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson", directed by Ken Burns.
Ali previously played Johnson, the world's first black heavyweight boxing champion, in a stage production of "The Great White Hope" in 2000.
Jackson once took part in a boxing match, dubbed "the fight of the century," in 1910 against James J. Jeffries and ruled the boxing world from 1908 to 1915.
