Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us
Out of the ring and on to the silver screen
JOHN WIGHT on boxing legends make such great film subjects

THE news that a movie on the life of Marvellous Marvin Hagler is now in the works should come as no surprise, given how epic and dramatic a life it was both in and out of the ring.

Taken in conjunction with the fact that a movie on the life of Britain’s Prince Naseem Hamed — Giant — is currently in production and being shot in Leeds, it confirms that the boxing movie as a genre is alive and kicking.

On a broader level, the relationship between cinema and the sport of boxing is one that stretches back all the way through the history of the silver screen. Boxing, movie producers have long recognised, is a sport littered with men and now increasingly women whose lives are steeped in drama, tragedy and personal struggle, champions both actual and fictional deserving of the accolade of having their stories told.

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Music Review / 17 January 2023
17 January 2023
Theatre Review / 12 December 2022
12 December 2022
Theatre Review / 8 September 2022
8 September 2022
While the subject matter is sobering and serious, this isn't your run-of-the-mill polemic, write INDIE PURCELL
Book Review / 21 August 2022
21 August 2022
An absolute must for those who love film and graphic novels, writes INDIANNA PURCELL
Similar stories
Books / 26 July 2024
26 July 2024
ANDY HEDGECOCK admires a virtuoso collection of short stories that chronicle 21st century alienation and the cruelties of consumerism
Sport / 12 April 2024
12 April 2024
JOHN WIGHT looks back at one of the most enduring controversies in the sport – when Sugar Ray Leonard fought Marvellous Marvin Hagler
Men’s boxing / 29 March 2024
29 March 2024
JOHN WIGHT describes the boxer’s decades-long career that saw him fight some of the most iconic and legendary heavyweights of all time
Men’s Boxing / 2 February 2024
2 February 2024
JOHN WIGHT writes about how the culture of confidentiality in boxing has increasingly come under attack in recent times, proven by the rumours surrounding Fury v Usyk