DLR’s Top 10 Boxing Movies

The Pacquio-Cotto fight is fast approaching this weekend. What an opportune time to publish our top 10 boxing list.

1.) ALI – Watching this movie you almost forget that is Will Smith and not Ali himself. An all around great movie, touching on different aspects of Ali’s life. The action scenes were tremendous and a great casting job of the women in ALi’s life.

2.) ROCKY – The movie that started it all. We were introduced to Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa, Uncle Paulie, Adrienne, Mick, Apollo Creed, etc etc. After first seeing this movie, who knew it would become a pop icon?

3.) ROCKY IV – We were introduced to the big Russian Ivan Drago in this one. The Russian was the ultimate villian. One, he was Russian. Two, he killed Apollo. Rocky’s pre-fight training is always inspirational but this one was even more so because of the elements and for the first time Rocky was in a true hostile environment.

4.) WHEN WE WERE KINGS - This documentary highlighted the bout betweeen Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, known as the Rumble in the Jungle, that took place in Zaire (now known as the Congo). It also documented the “event” where the always controversial Don King was instrumental in producing before the fight with the likes of James Brown and B.B. King (RIP to both).

5.) ROCKY III – This Rocky was great for a number of reasons. The two greatest being, one, the death of Mick, Rocky’s old school trainer and, two, the introduction of Clubber Lang (Mr. T), a hungry up and coming street savvy fighter chomping at the bit for a shot at the champ. Definitely a highlight of Mr. T’s career.

6.) THE HURRICANE - A movie starring the Great Denzel Washington, reliving on the big screen the story of Ruben “Hurricane” Carter, whose sentence was set aside after spending 20 yrs. in prison for a triple murder where the evidence was circumstantial at best.

7.) ROCKY II – The re-match with Apollo Creed. This movie was good but half-way through the movie you can sense the outcome but what makes Rocky II a relevant movie today is the struggle of an athlete to live and survive with their “perceived” success.

8.) UNDISPUTED – If this was not the most ghetto fabulous boxing movie ever, I dont know what is. Lets see, you had Snipes vs. Rhames, appearances by Master P, (the prison rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is priceless) C-Murder, Kurupt and others. There is an Undisputed II that went straight to video. I have not met a person who has seen it.

9.) CINDERELLA MAN – DLR loves a rags to riches story. And what a better person to convince you as an old school fighter than Russell Crowe portraying James J. Braddock. Max Baer was the champion and villain who before the fight with Braddock who was known for killing opponents in the ring.

10.) MILLION DOLLAR BABY – While DLR is not a great fan of female boxing (@ least not in that context), Million Dollar Baby was a good movie that received a lot of awards and DLR is a fan of a man’s actor in Clint Eastwood.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Don King: Only in America

The Great White Hype

Raging Bull

Teen Wolf Too

Tyson

Rocky V

Balboa

Did we forget any? Let us know. Leave a comment at the bottom and enjoy the fight!