What is the most accurate boxing movie that sticks with the actually facts?

Rocky

 

Hi Quinton.
It could be ****** on my Back, the true story of the great Barney Ross, and his fight with addiction after his stint in the army, he was portrayed by Cameron Mitchell, who he bore an uncanny resemblance to, if you haven't check it out, you won't be dissappointed.
stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Mike.

 

Honestly, for me, it’s The Great White Hype.

It captures better than anything the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of how boxing really works — the promoter threatening to ‘fire’ the alphabet boxing organization chief if he doesn’t take his normal bribes (“OK. Money, sex and drugs”) and go along.

The fight itself, while a title bout in the movie, is sort of based on Tyson-McNeeley (basically in the film, the dominant champ is knocking out people so quickly the box office/PPV returns are dwindling so they decide to ‘create’ a white contender to hype interest … McNeeley was never billed as such, but don’t kid yourself that ‘threats’ to titles have never been ‘created’ by promotional hype machines).

There’s a part for a journalist based on Jack Newfield, who exposed Don King. There’s a crooked lawyer whose job it is to create contracts that the fighters can’t enforce (‘It’s vague, indecipherable and best of all, ironclad. Any interpretation will lead to endless litigation … I think it’s our best work’). A money mark casino owner who is seduced by the star power of the big boxing event. And a charismatic, corrupt promoter (Samuel L Jackson) who, refreshingly, isn’t actually trying to play as a Don King clone/copy … he’s his own (very interesting) character.

I could go on and on. Written by Ron Shelton, who was responsible for Bull Durham.

EDIT to add trailer:

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The most believable to me, even though it's not based on the facts of any specific event, is "The Setup", a 1949 film starring Robert Ryan. It occurs all in one day, almost all of it in real time, and it tells the story of a fight card featuring boxers who are at different phases of their careers, both on the way up and on the way down as well as preliminary fighters who never had a hope of achieving either of those statuses. A lot of the screen time features boxers in the dressing room before and after they go into the ring.

 

I was under the impression that it didn't stick with facts and they got sued over it by Ross and lost? I don't know if that's right, but I thought I'd read that at some point.

 

That and ,The Set Up starring Robert Ryan, and Fat City, starring Jeff Daniels and Stacy Keach.HM Requiem For A Heavyweight & The Harder They Fall.

 

Cameron Mitchell will always be Buck Cannon to me Mike

 

Cinderella Man had good boxing scenes. Outside of the portrayal of Max Baer in a negative light it seemed to be accurate.

 

I agree. I don't know why they needed to **** all over Baer like that. I guess they felt like there had to be a villain even though the truth was inspiring as hell.

Too me, the most accurate is The Fighter. You really got to see the struggles of a journeyman fighter like Mickey Ward trying to make it all the while Dickey was in the grips of horrible addiction. That movie bit home because I knew so many people that destroyed their lives on crack in the 80's and I saw that HBO documentary on Lowell that featured Dickey.

The worst is hands down The Hurricane. That movie glorified a piece of **** person in Ruben Carter and the way they portrayed his title shot against Joey Giardello is downright criminal in itself. Joey beat that man straight up and to portray that fight any other way is absolutely bull****.

 

Hi Noel.
Agreed,mind you also like the surname what a beauty Linda Cristal, one of my early fancies.
nice to hear from you mate, chat soon.
Mike.

 

The Surviver 2021

True story of Harry Haft who fought fellow Auschwitz prisoners. Losers were killed.

Highlights his life after the war, culminating in his fight with Rocky Marciano, which seems was pretty realistic compared to news.
Boxrec:
Rocky Marciano 185 lbs beat Harry Haft 175 lbs by KO at 2:21 in round 3 of 10

• Date: 1949-07-18
• Location: Rhode Island Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
  "As usual Marciano was all fury and no finesse." Haft made a game showing, being a "rusher" with little style. He landed the first good punch of the fight in the first round, a hard right to Rocky's stomach. For the first minute of round two, Haft traded punch for punch, but then Marciano landed a series of rights that had his opponent groggy at the bell. Haft made one rally in round three but Marciano landed a flurry that put Harry down for the count.
  

I think Haft´s previous fight with LaStarza is also recreated who at least talked about.

Tough film but strongly recommend.

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Great white hope was good.
The portrayal of Baer seems spot on according to the Frankie Campbell bio

 

Fat City shows the reality and struggles of novice and journeyman fighters in a gritty setting. One of my favorites.

The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg. Biopic of Mickey Ward, very well done. Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund nailed that role. I met Eklund when I used to train at Ward's gym in Lowell MA, he's still a character much like the way he was portrayed in the movie, but I believe he is drug free now.

Bleed for This, the story of Vinny Pazienza was well done. Could have been better in some ways but it did capture the grind of boxing, particularly the training scenes.

Bang Bang is a good one. There's a bit more emphasis on the former fighter's personal life and trying to come to terms with the past, but it does a good job where the boxing aspect is concerned.