# Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is an American crime drama television miniseries created by Shaye Ogbonna, based on the 2020 podcast of the same name fictionalizing an actual armed robbery, at an Atlanta party, on the night of Muhammad Ali's October 1970 comeback fight, after being stripped of his boxing license in 1967 for being a conscientious objector to fighting in the Vietnam War.
The limited series premiered on September 5, 2024, on Peacock with the first three episodes. It concluded with its eighth episode on October 10, 2024.

## Premise

The infamous story of how an armed robbery on the night of Muhammad Ali's historic 1970 comeback fight transformed Atlanta into the "Black Mecca."

## Cast
### Main

* Kevin Hart as Gordon 'Chicken Man' Williams
* Taraji P. Henson as Vivian 'Sweets' Thomas
* Don Cheadle as Detective J.D. Hudson
* Samuel L. Jackson as Frank 'Black Godfather' Moten

### Special guest star

* Terrence Howard as Richard 'Cadillac Richie' Wheeler

### Guest

* Dexter Darden as Muhammad Ali
* Michael James Shaw as Lamar
* Atkins Estimond as Raymond 'Silky Brown' Armstrong
* Sam Adegoke as Emerson Dorsey
* Sinqua Walls as McKinley 'Mac' Rogers
* Myles Bullock as Willie Black
* Artrece Johnson as Faye Williams
* Lori Harvey as Lola Falana
* Marsha Stephanie Blake as Delores Hudson
* Jayson Warner Smith as Police Chief Herbert Turner Jenkins
* RonReaco Lee as Senator Leroy Johnson
* Teresa Celeste as Maxine
* Chloe Bailey as Lena Mosley
* Melvin Gregg as Andre Muse
* Jalyn Hall as Baby Ray
* Justen Ross as Tommy Hayes
* Terrence Terrell as Boone Davis
* Ben Vandermey as Detective Mason
* Jeff Sprauve as Romel
* Alan Heckner as Colt
* Parker Sack as Paul Gleason
* Clifton Powell as Mushmouth Rowe
* David Banner as Missouri Slim
* Exie Booker as Derrick 'Tex' Patterson
* Dammon Earl Hughes as Bunker Willis
* Celestino Cornielle as Javier 'Javi' Lopez
* Rockmond Dunbar as Uncle Willie
* Rayan Lawrence as Melvin

## Episodes

| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 1 | "Round One: The Ballad of Chicken Man" | Craig Brewer | Shaye Ogbonna | September 5, 2024 (2024-09-05) | TBA | N/A |
| 2 | "Round Two: Fight Night" | Craig Brewer | Shaye Ogbonna | September 5, 2024 (2024-09-05) | TBA | N/A |
| 3 | "Round Three: Black Vegas" | Tanya Hamilton | Erika L. Johnson | September 5, 2024 (2024-09-05) | TBA | N/A |
| 4 | "Round Four: Real Policework" | Tanya Hamilton | Jon Dorsey | September 12, 2024 (2024-09-12) | TBA | N/A |
| 5 | "Round Five: Ambition Ain't Free" | Carl Seaton | Lauren Andrea Glover | September 19, 2024 (2024-09-19) | TBA | N/A |
| 6 | "Round Six: Community Men" | Carl Seaton | Maxwell Michael Towson | September 26, 2024 (2024-09-26) | TBA | N/A |
| 7 | "Round Seven: Jekyll Island" | Craig Brewer | Story by : Jason Horwitch Teleplay by : Jason Horwitch & Erika L. Johnson | October 3, 2024 (2024-10-03) | TBA | N/A |
| 8 | "Round Eight: Testify" | Craig Brewer | Story by : Shaye Ogbonna & William Yu Teleplay by : Shaye Ogbonna | October 10, 2024 (2024-10-10) | TBA | N/A |

## Production

It was announced in December 2023 that Kevin Hart was set to star in and executive produce the series, which Peacock had greenlit in a straight to series order. Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard, Dexter Darden and Taraji P. Henson were added to the cast in January 2024, while Craig Brewer was hired to direct the first and last two episodes. Myles Bullock, Don Cheadle, Chloe Bailey, Melvin Gregg, Artrece Johnson, Jalyn Hall, Clifton Powell, Lori Harvey and Marsha Stephanie Blake were added to the cast in February 2024. In March, Rockmond Dunbar joined the cast.
Filming began on February 12, 2024, in Atlanta.
The series reunites Taraji P. Henson with Kevin Hart after co-starring with him in Think Like a Man, Think Like a Man Too, and Top Five, and is Henson’s third collaboration with Terrence Howard, whom she had previously collaborated with in Hustle & Flow and the series Empire.
The series also reunites Howard with Cheadle whom had previously co-starred together in the film Crash.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Skillfully weaving an inflection point in Black culture into a rollicking heist story, Fight Night is punchy entertainment with a never-better Kevin Hart broadening his dramatic range." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.