Feature: Fight Night – Atlanta’s Best Kept Secret

By Carol Badaracco Padgett

Even though Keating grew up an A-Town storyteller, he stood there with a question mark on his face when his dad first told him the fight-night story 20 years ago. Its real-life logline reads like this: When Muhammad Ali fought Jerry Quarry in Atlanta in 1970, a brazenly crazy after-party crime is what actually took the prize.

“So I went to the Decatur library and found the headline on microfilm,” Keating says. “And I said, ‘This is my next movie.’”

Another awakening followed soon afterward. As Keating puts it, “I was surprised because when I went around town telling people I was going to tell this story, nobody had heard about it before. It was this local story shrouded in history and hidden from its own native people.”

All eyes on The A

“Atlanta-forward” is Keating’s compound-adjective description for the miniseries he helped create around the hush-hush story, “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist,” written for the screen by Shaye Ogbonna, filmed at Assembly Atlanta Studios, and streamed on Peacock. The eight-episode limited series was created with the backing of Will Packer Media, Universal, and HartBeat Productions, and its all-star cast includes Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Taraji P. Henson, and Terrence Howard.

According to Keating, “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” was the top-streamed series on Peacock when the first three episodes aired on Sept. 5, 2024. The series debut ended on Oct. 10, 2024, with an episode-eight finale.

Before he became an executive producer of the limited series, Keating turned the story of Fight Night into a wildly successful iHeartRadio Original true crime podcast he wrote alongside his friend, Jim Roberts. Keating hosted the podcast, as well.

Keating has done so much personal research into the Fight Night story — for so many different projects throughout the years – it’s become extremely personal for him. And he came to know and love its real-life main character.

“By the time I met Gordon Williams Sr. [Chicken Man], he was a pastor,” he notes. “And he passed away a decade ago. I went to his funeral and it was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.”

What really happened on fight night in 1970?

Without spoiling the story for anyone who hasn’t seen the miniseries yet or gone to the library to sift through microfiche, here’s a snapshot of what went down.

• Muhammed Ali fights Joe Quarry on Oct. 26, 1970, at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium
• the matchup marks a historic return to the ring for Ali, who was banned from boxing for three years after he refused to enlist in the Vietnam War
• after Ali’s fight, a lavish after-party is thrown at the home of Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams Sr. (a purported numbers runner for illegal gambling at the time, and a man known to meet women by giving them a chicken sandwich)
• armed robbers break into the party and steal the guests’ jewelry and cash – an estimated $1 million worth
• Atlanta detective J.D. Hudson, one of the city’s first Black detective lieutenant, leads the case – and Williams Sr. is his prime suspect, initially, although he was never convicted

In one ear and out the other

When Keating first approached Chicken Man’s family members to learn more about Williams Sr. and the night of the fight, even they didn’t have the full story.

James Martin Jr., a relative of Chicken Man’s, owns the house today where the heist took place. He was born in 1975 and grew up there with his mom.

“She purchased the house for $40,000 from Chicken Man – Gordon, my uncle. She bought it four years after the heist, and it’s my childhood home,” he says.

When it came to Chicken Man’s story, Martin Jr. said he knew his uncle was known around the city, but he didn’t know what for. “The family kept it away from us,” he says. “I didn’t know about his life. I remember my mom said there was a big party here one time and that it was on 20/20, but she didn’t give any more details. I was just a kid. It went in one ear and out the other.”

Williams Sr.’s grown daughter, Kamilah, came to terms with the tale as a teen, in bits and pieces. Then, in journalism school in college, she worked as a research assistant on Keating’s podcast.

Perhaps as some form of restitution for growing up without ever knowing the full family story, both Martin Jr. and Kamilah were given the opportunity to insert themselves into the story today – as extras onset during production of the limited series.

After finally learning their family’s story and taking it all in – and watching it play out on the silver screen at a premiere at Atlanta’s Tara Theatre on Sept. 7, 2024 — both are a bit nostalgic.

As Martin Jr. says, “Honestly, I’ve been absorbing all this, and I have so many emotions. It makes me feel proud I’m a part of Atlanta history with Uncle Gordon.”

Kamilah simply shared this message on behalf of her father: “My dad always wanted people to know that he changed throughout his life. It is a gangsta story, but he wanted people to know that he changed, and he was able to walk away from that life.”

Still storytelling

The next story Keating will tell is feature film “Follow Me,” based on the award-winning short story by Paul Griner. On his podcast partnership with iHeartMedia, too, he’ll continue to share true stories – which he now considers his specialty.

As for Keating’s takeaway on the journey of learning and sharing the Fight Night story, he admits he could never quite reconcile the Chicken Man character with the Gordon Williams Sr. he came to know throughout his years of research.

“When I met Gordon Williams Sr., he was a pastor. I never met him as that hustler he used to be,” Keating states.

“But sometimes I would spot a special glint in the pastor’s eye,” he adds.

This article appeared in the 2025 edition of the Creative Economy Journal. See more from the Journal here.