Boxing, music and the work behind The Greatest
Aleks Paunovic remembers standing behind Muhammad Ali in a Vancouver theatre, watching his hero watch himself on screen. He had been asked to look after Ali for the evening. Years later, he found himself on the set of The Greatest, helping tell that same man's story.
Before that role came boxing gyms in Winnipeg, summers on the road with his band, acting classes and years of auditions. In our conversation, Aleks talked about reconnecting with his father through boxing, learning to enjoy the work before the outcome, and the audition that made him feel seen as more than the big guy.
You met Muhammad Ali years before being cast in The Greatest. How did that happen?
Aleks Paunovic: I have a really great friend who's an amazing boxing trainer, Kent Brown, and we boxed together back in the day. He and I were huge Ali fans. We heard he lived in Michigan and would go to a McDonald's there every morning. We were like, “We should do a road trip and just wait at McDonald's for him.” Imagine if we recorded it, waiting for Ali or something.
I never wanted to run into him in an airport where thousands of fans are, just to get a glimpse. I'd rather not even see him anywhere and just have what he means to me be mine. If it was ever going to happen, I would want it to be special.
In 2009, Rory Richards, who's a good friend, was someone I was teaching boxing at the time because I wasn't making money as an actor. I would use Ali references, the whole deal. She came in one day and said, “Hey, do you want to work this event that I'm doing?” It was a charity event for Facing Ali, to promote the documentary.
I got super excited, and then I had that thought: this is not how I wanted to do it. I didn't want to sneak in to serve a table just so I could see him. She asked me for a heavy bag to decorate the place, so I thought I'd drop it off and let her know I didn't think this was going to be my thing.
She goes, “No, no, your job is to take care of him, and you'll be his bodyguard for the night.” I was like, “What?”
What do you remember about that night?
He ends up pulling up with Lonnie, his wife, and Marilyn, his caretaker and friend. I introduce myself, and she says, “Muhammad, this is Aleks. He's going to take care of us for the night.” Just that sentence alone started making me emotional.
He came out of the car, grabbed my arm, and we went in. I was taking care of him through the night, and then we got the chance to watch Facing Ali with Ali in the room. I was right there, right behind him, watching him watch himself on the screen. It was just so surreal.
I had some beautiful moments with him. Then, years later, I get the opportunity to be part of this amazing series, The Greatest. Lonnie is one of the executive producers, and she was on set. I got to meet her again.
I said, “You know, we actually met.” She goes, “Really?” I said, “Yeah, Facing Ali in Vancouver.” And then she went, “Aleks?” I went, “Yeah!” I kept in touch with Marilyn through the years after that event. I had a beautiful moment with them. It's just a full-circle moment for me, and I'm blown away.
Ben Immanuel, Muhammad Ali and Aleks 2009.
Let's go back to Winnipeg. What was boxing like in your family?
My dad was a boxer, my grandfather, my uncle, so boxing was always in my life and always in my family. I was always doing hand pads with my dad as a kid.
Then you become a teenager and have a little strife with your father, so you don't really want to do the things he wants to do. I shifted into music because he wasn't really interested in music. I was like, “Oh, this is great. I can do this and not have him breathing down my neck.” And I really loved it.
But boxing was always a part of me. Even when I was in the band, I would find a gym and go boxing. If I hurt my hand, the guys were out of a job because they would have no bass player. So I would sneak around a little bit and go to boxing gyms without them knowing, hoping I didn't hurt my hand or have a big welt on my face.
Did boxing bring you and your dad closer together?
To get my dad and me closer together, I decided to train in Winnipeg and asked him to come along to the Orioles Boxing Club. Not only did he help me train, but he became a trainer there for over 20 years. It was nice to see him in his environment.
When we got closer as I got older, I was like, “You know what? Let's go have some fun together.” My dad and I didn't have a lot of words, but boxing was our vocabulary. That got us closer together.
The late Sam Neill and Aleks.
Do you remember your first fight and what it taught you?
Oh, yeah. I lost my first fight because I was so nervous. I remember clipping him in the beginning, and then I just went for it. He was nicely covering up against the ropes, and I'm like, “Boom, boom, boom.” All of a sudden, I am dead.
I basically lost because I tired out. That taught me to not go crazy and to be calm in the ring. Those are cool moments to have in life, to show what makes a fighter a fighter and a person a person. Being relaxed, not going for a kill shot, observing the situation. I didn't do any of that.
Then I learned that and was undefeated up until my last fight against Argentina. That first fight was a real learning lesson. It wasn't about who could hit the hardest or throw as many punches. It's definitely a science.
What happened when you injured your shoulder?
I went on to win the Manitoba Championships, and then Saskatchewan and Alberta Provincials. At the Pre-Pan American Games in Winnipeg, my shoulder came out fighting Argentina. I was up 9–0, too, but my shoulder came out, and that was basically it for me.
Acting started slowly moving in during that time. I loved going to the gym, sparring, seeing the dudes when I got healthy, but the injury held me back. I didn't have it in me to be a pro. I started late because of the strife between my dad and me.
Aleks at the speed bag.
Was music the dream at that point?
The guys in my high school were playing, and I would go watch them after school. They lost their bass player and asked me to play. I loved the bass, so I started learning it. I was basically learning the bass while I was in a band.
We loved hanging around each other. We got to do talent shows and our own gigs. While we were still in high school, during the summer we'd play on the road through Eastern Canada, and it became a dream. Writing songs with your friends, performing them and people really enjoying them—that was the dream, man.
The dream really lived within our core group. After a while, a couple of the guys left to start a family, which I love. We're still friends, and they're amazing dudes. I stuck with it a little longer, but my heart wasn't as in it as before. The desire was slowly fizzling out, and that's when I got into acting.
Aleks playing bass during his band years.
How did acting find you?
I was playing a show in Winnipeg, and in between sets a casting director asked if I would audition for a film. I love saying yes. I'm a yes dude. I'll be the first guy to say yes to something and figure it out later, especially if it scares the shit out of me.
Because it wasn't my focal point—music was—I wasn't really that nervous. I ended up getting the job. I was like, “This is something very cool where I can be creative and not worry about four or five other guys in the band. It's just me.”
I started doing some stunts in town and taking acting classes, all while I was in the band. I was boxing while I was in the band, too. I loved every minute of it, and then acting started taking over.
After a bunch of years in music, I decided to move to Vancouver on my way to Los Angeles to try to be an actor. Then 9/11 happened, and that kept me in Vancouver. I started taking classes, developing great relationships with friends and trying to make my mark here.
Was there a role that made you think this was what you wanted to do?
A really good friend who became my mentor, Rick Skene, was the stunt coordinator in Winnipeg. A movie came into town with Dean Cain called Christmas Rush. One of the actors was fired, and Rick suggested me to the director.
I met the director at the Fort Garry Hotel and talked about what I thought the character was. It was with a Russian dialect. He wanted to hear it, I gave it to him, and he goes, “Okay, great.” That was my biggest role to date at that point.
I became friends with Eric Roberts and Dean Cain. Just great dudes. Being in that atmosphere, creating and being in an action film, I went, “Oh my God, this is something I really want to do. This is so much fun.” We're shooting guns, running around, playing on set with dialogue, and they're helping me out.
I still loved doing my own fights, but I really wanted to tell stories. I knew my body was going to give out someday if I kept doing stunts. I wanted to get a head start on taking classes and being looked at as an actor.
Aleks in The CW’s The 100.
It took time to become a working actor. What kept you going?
I really didn't start working as a working actor until my 40s. It took me a bit to get there. You've got to want it, no matter what it is, and you've got to love it.
If I'm just looking to book a gig and get famous, or book a gig to get money, there are so many more no's than yeses. You get really frustrated. I've seen a lot of people go the opposite way and say, “I don't want to do this anymore.”
For me, I loved the work ethic and the auditions. An audition was work to me. You hope you get the gig, but I loved doing it. It was not only an opportunity for work, but an opportunity to act.
Did your boxing experience help you deal with audition nerves?
Going into the room, you get super nervous. That was the feeling I would get before a fight, and I knew how to relax before a fight. I would shadowbox a little bit, do a little jumping on the spot, and that would drop me right in.
When you go into the room, it's like stepping into the ring. The nerves kind of all go. The biggest part was waiting in the waiting room, hearing other people doing the lines their way. You don't want to get caught up in that. Just chill, relax, fight your fight.
It helped me with my first play, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. There were about 300 people out there on opening night. It was a two-hander, and a beast of a play. I was so nervous. I went, “Oh my God, I know this. This is right before a fight.”
Once I started shadowboxing, the nerves went away. I had started forgetting the lines because I was so nervous. Then the lines just fell out. When I got onstage, it was go time. I don't think I could have gotten through it without the experience of boxing.
How did you support yourself while you were building your acting career?
I was teaching boxing to friends and people in acting class, and I worked for a sports supplement company. I give a lot of credit and thanks to that company because it gave me a lot of freedom. If an audition came up, I didn't have to ask for time off.
Everything came through emails and visiting stores. That allowed me to still go to class, do auditions and do gigs, as long as I did my work on the computer, visited stores and dropped off product. That was about it for me: teaching and the supplements.
Ben Immanuel and Aleks.
You're often seen as the intimidating guy. Was there a moment when you felt they saw you differently?
I did a workshop with Larry Moss, an amazing acting coach, and we worked on Of Mice and Men. I got to work on a character where it didn't really have anything to do with my size. It had to do with how I was delivering this amazing piece of literature.
Then I got back to Vancouver, and a role came up in Personal Effects. I went, “Oh my God, I just worked on this with one of the best acting coaches in the world.” I had to find the difference between Lennie from Of Mice and Men and this character.
It was a very emotional audition. My character had to open his heart. When you put so much work in, the last thing you want to hear after the first scene is, “Okay, thanks for coming in.” But I did the first scene, and they all sat up and said, “Let's work on this a little bit more.”
I felt like they saw me as more than just a big guy. In the emotional scene, what I was really being emotional about inside was that they see me. They see I can do this character and that I did the work. When the tears came, they were happy tears.
I ended up getting the gig, working with Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates. It made me go, “Okay, I can do this past the brute, past the thug and the doorman.”
I don't mind the big thug roles. I think they're fun, especially if I can make the dialogue interesting and give the person something to say. I love playing the tough guy, but I also love playing soft roles and something that has nothing to do with my size.
The Greatest on Prime Video.
How did you land your role in The Greatest?
A friend asked if I was going out for William Faversham. I had no idea. I asked my agent, and she said, “We submitted you, but they passed.” I was just excited to get the sides and read it. My whole thing was, “I can't wait to tell my friends I almost auditioned for it.”
Then they came back around, and I got the audition. I put all the work in, and I was happy just to put an audition down. Then they wanted a Zoom meeting, and I was happy to get a Zoom meeting.
Then it was the screen test in Toronto with Jaalen Best, who plays Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali, and meeting Ben Watkins, the showrunner. I was so stoked just to be in the room with these guys. I was going to watch the show regardless of whether I got it or not.
I wish I could do this with every audition: just be happy with that moment. I was happy to be part of each process. Then I got the role, and that's when I got nervous. “Oh my God, I'm going to represent a piece of this amazing series.”
Who is William Faversham Jr., and what drew you to him?
He's the leader of the Louisville Millionaires Club. I'm the one who gets the finances together and convinces everyone we should manage this kid.
Even though I know the story back and forth, it was cool to go into it not knowing who this kid was going to be. That's the beauty of it. You're rolling the dice on somebody. We all know what happened later, but at the time these guys didn't know if he was going to be the dude.
Yes, he won gold in Rome at the Olympics, but was it going to transform into a pro career? His hands were down. They're bigger men. He's a young kid. William Faversham Jr. and so many people around him believed in him.
I love the character and him as a person because he really fought for Cassius Clay and Muhammad Ali. When racism was happening, he was up against the racism, too. He was such a good man to have in his corner, and I loved portraying a dude like that.
What do you hope people take away from the series?
The story has been told about Muhammad Ali, but not this in depth. You get into the souls of the people around him who helped him become this amazing man. Everyone who supported him and didn't support him, and the obstacles he had to go up against.
I think people are going to walk away with a whole new look and respect for the story of Muhammad Ali. The scripts have been absolutely amazing. I think people are going to be blown away with the storytelling, and I'm stoked to be part of it.
After everything you've done, what does this role mean to you personally?
This is such a huge part of my career. I remember saying, “You know what? I can be done now.” I've just done the most epic thing that I never thought I would ever be part of.
Meeting the man was something I thought was the pinnacle. Now I get to tell his story, and I'm super grateful, man.
The Greatest premieres on Prime Video on November 4, 2026.