Well the answer is yes...and no..in some cases..depending on what you class as acting, and who you like ...to view..Boxers... acting seems to have been around since the birth of film..Corbett made plus plus plus shorts and serials...so could boxers act? Plainly Tommy Morrison in Rocky V was of the latter..however some guys did do well on film, especialy Archie Moore in The Adventuers of Huckleberry Finn ..1960..Sugar Ray was featured in Iwin Allens Land of giants... Jersey Joe Walcott turned in a humble and good performance in the stunning THE HARDER THEY FALL...1956.. Did Max Baer act well in the same film....? Yes is my answer, and the whole presence of him being THE CHAMP..at his age..is a joke..but does he act the part well?.. So could boxers act..was their fame enough for film and television to hire these guys? Could boxers act....?
"I could get any dame I want all I have to do is reach out and grab" - Sonny Liston "Ima get chu in the ring and Ima fck you up" - James Toney in the Ali movie as Frazier. He did good job I guess.
I think Maxie Rosenbloom might get the gold for boxer/actor. Mclaglen and Archie Moore fight it out for the silver. Of course you could stretch it to include Charles Bronson.
Carlos Palomino not only did he do all those commercials but also starred in a lot of movies. He played Geronimo in one movie.
Yes, Walcott and especially Baer turned very respectable performances in The Harder They Fall...maybe the good job they did was inspired by the presence of Bogart in that movie..maybe it was by osmosis, lol..whatever it was, they did good, IMO.