I like boxing, but if you don't you most likely won't like this one. A real boxer, Ray Mancini, plays the lead, and since he's the real thing, you can see it for example in his punching on the heavy bag. Others complain that he's not articulate and a skilled actor, hey, he's a boxer, and he seems like a boxer.
The portrayal of the control of the business by often corrupt promoters is all too real. A fighter that the main character beats tells him that what happens in the ring is the easy part, it's what you deal with outside it that's the hard part. Some of that is the politics and corruption, but there's also the problem of a young guy that comes from poor circumstances suddenly having money and being ill equipped to manage it, plus the new friends the money and fame attracts.
It's got a feel good ending, contrary to how many boxers end up, hanging on too long and winding up broke and brain damaged. Mancini himself is something of an exception, having kept quite quit a bit of the money he earned and getting into other things after retirement.
The portrayal of the control of the business by often corrupt promoters is all too real. A fighter that the main character beats tells him that what happens in the ring is the easy part, it's what you deal with outside it that's the hard part. Some of that is the politics and corruption, but there's also the problem of a young guy that comes from poor circumstances suddenly having money and being ill equipped to manage it, plus the new friends the money and fame attracts.
It's got a feel good ending, contrary to how many boxers end up, hanging on too long and winding up broke and brain damaged. Mancini himself is something of an exception, having kept quite quit a bit of the money he earned and getting into other things after retirement.