The BBC produced “Kings of The Ring – History of Heavyweight Boxing 1919-1990” celebrates boxing’s marquee division. Comprehensive and nonjudgmental, it begins with Jess Willard’s victory over Jack Johnson in Cuba and runs through the Mike Tyson era.
Narrator
Himself (Archival Footage)
Himself (Archival Footage)
The BBC produced “Kings of The Ring – History of Heavyweight Boxing 1919-1990” celebrates boxing’s marquee division. Comprehensive and nonjudgmental, it begins with Jess Willard’s victory over Jack Johnson in Cuba and runs through the Mike Tyson era.
1995-01-01
2
From abject poverty to becoming a ten-time boxing world champion, congressman, and international icon, Manny Pacquiao is the true definition of a Cinderella story. In the Philippines, he first entered the ring as a sixteen-year-old weighing ninety-eight pounds with the goal of earning money to feed his family. Now, almost twenty years later, when he fights, the country of 100 million people comes to a complete standstill to watch. Regarded for his ability to bring people together, Pacquiao entered the political arena in 2010. As history’s first boxing congressman, Pacquiao now fights for his people both inside and outside of the ring. Now at the height of his career, he is faced with maneuvering an unscrupulous sport while maintaining his political duties. The question now is, what bridge is too far for Manny Pacquiao to cross?
When Werner Herzog was still a child, his father was beaten to death before his eyes. His mother was overwhelmed with his upbringing and thereupon shipped him off to one of the toughest youth welfare institutions in Freistatt. This was followed by a career as a bouncer in the city's most notorious music club and an attempt to start a family. Today, the 77-year-old from Bielefeld lives with his dog Lucky in a lonely house in the country. Despite adverse living conditions, he has survived in his own unique and inimitable way.
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as The Rumble in the Jungle, was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium (now the Stade Tata Raphaël) in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), between undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. The event had an attendance of 60,000 people and was one of the most watched televised events at the time. Ali won by knockout in the eighth round.
A deeply human portrait of a boxer with the heart of a lion who refused to give up, in and outside of the ring. This documentary follows the fighter's life from a child who was taught how to hate, to a father who learned how to love.
Sylvester Stallone and John G. Avildsen narrate behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "Rocky" to mark the film's 40th anniversary.
The story of Jack Johnson, the first African American Heavyweight boxing champion.
Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.
Kick Like Tayla shares a raw and unfiltered look into the life of AFLW player and boxing champion, Tayla Harris, as she confronts public and personal challenges, and channels her platform for good.
A definitive portrait of a unique, working-class hero, one of the world’s most beloved boxers - Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton. This documentary, with incredible access to Ricky and unseen archive footage, charts his journey from the Hattersley estate near Manchester to headlining on the strip in Las Vegas is an emotional insight into a brilliant but flawed sporting hero. Raw and compelling, the documentary showcases this cautionary tale and inspirational story of a man forced to navigate a path through fragile relationships and broken dreams as he attempts to make sense of a life that appeared destined for a happy ending.
10 years before the debut of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 1979, Bill Viola and Frank Caliguri dreamed up a contest pitting barroom bigmouths against wrestlers, martial artists, boxers, bouncers and brawlers, billed as no-holds-barred new type of competitive fighting. When the fights succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, they were swept up in a chain of events that ended in the first mixed-martial arts ban in the nation. “Tough Guys” chronicles the inception of Caliguri and Viola’s first bouts and the colorful, crazy cast of fighters who made them a hit as well as the politicians who brought it all crashing down. The film brings to life a moment when the national martial arts craze was building to a crescendo as the economies of Pennsylvania steel towns were plummeting to levels of unemployment never seen, breeding desperate men looking for a chance to prove their worth and make some money in the ring.
Fact-based drama about the two Joe Louis-Max Schmeling heavyweight fights and the way both boxers unwillingly became symbols of political ideologies just prior to World War II.
In October of 1980 Muhammad Ali was preparing to fight for an unprecedented fourth heavyweight title against his friend and former sparring partner Larry Holmes. To say that the great Ali was in the twilight of his career would be generous; most of his admiring fans, friends and fight scribes considered his bravado delusional. What was left for him to prove? In the weeks of training before the fight, documentarians Albert and David Maysles took an intimate look at Ali trying to convince the world and perhaps himself, that he was still “The Greatest.” At the same time, they documented the mild-mannered and undervalued champion Holmes as he confidently prepared to put an end to the career of a man for whom he had an abiding and deep affection
On the evening of Sept. 7, 1996, Mike Tyson, the WBC heavyweight champion, attempted to take Bruce Seldon’s WBA title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this point in his career, Tyson’s fights had become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, where the ever present hype of the professional boxing scene would come face to face with the worlds of big business, Hollywood, and hip hop. Sitting ringside was controversial rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur and Tyson were friends, a feeling of kinship linked them as each rose to stardom from poverty only to be thrown in prison. Following Tyson’s victory, Shakur and “Iron Mike” were to celebrate at an after party, but the rap star never arrived. Shakur was brutally gunned down later that night, and the scene in Las Vegas quickly turned from would-be celebratory revelry to ill fated and inopportune tragedy.
'Day of the Fight' shows Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier during the height of his career, on the day of a fight with black middleweight Bobby James, which took place on April 17, 1950.
Makunouchi Ippo is the new Featherweight champion of Japan and is now ready for his first title defense. His opponent, the former Jr. Featherweight champion and a medical student, Sanada Kazuki. In addition to this feud, Sanada is being coached by Kamogawa's former rival, Hama Dankichi. What makes things worse is that Sanada works at the same hospital where Kumi is a nurse at and everybody at the hospital wants Sanada to win. Not only does Ippo have to defend his title, he has to reclaim his love.
Kimura finally has his championship match. It takes place at the annual champion carnival. But now he must face the intense champion, Mashiba for the Junior Lightweight championship.
From his humble, troubled beginnings at age 10 in New York, to his discovery by Cus D'Amato, his rise to Champ, his marriage, divorce, rape conviction, prison term and release, Tyson's life is profiled.
The story of boxer Sean Mannion, born in the 1950s in Ros Muc in county Galway, Ireland, his boxing career, his emigration to America and the effect it had on him, his brush with organized crime in Boston.
'One Night: Joshua vs. Ruiz' is a comprehensive look at the night Andy Ruiz pulled off the biggest boxing upset in decades.