In 2003, Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh became the first World Champion of Chessboxing. This brain-busting combination of alternating rounds of chess and boxing was in fact an art performance calling for more balance in a world of extremes, and the audience reaction was so electric that it inspired Rubingh to push it as a real sport. Rubingh’s methodical ability to achieve balance in the ring is put to the test outside of it when impulsive British TV Producer Tim Woolgar takes up the sport and his opposing vision for success creates a rift between them, endangering chessboxing’s future.
Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson is a 1993 film made by acclaimed American documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Though Tyson was in jail serving a sentence for rape, Kopple used existing interviews with the boxer, as well as her own extensive interviews with those closest to Tyson, to explore the man's history. The film traces Tyson's story from his troubled and tumultuous upbringing, through his rapid ascendancy in the ranks of the boxing world and his subsequent struggle with the trappings of fame. Fallen Champ earned Barbara Kopple a Directors Guild of America award as Best Documentary Director of 1993.
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the history of Mixed Martial Arts. Filmed over the course of 4 years, Notorious is the exclusive, all-access account of Conor’s meteoric rise from claiming benefits and living in his parents' spare room in Dublin to claiming multiple championship UFC belts and seven figure pay-packets in Las Vegas.
Co-directed by Gentry Kirby and Erin Leyden, “Tommy” examines Morrison’s remarkable rise to the spotlight, followed by a stunning, confounding, and ultimately tragic fall. He was one of the best heavyweights of his time; a handsome, charming, yet unsettled young star. Born into a troubled family in America’s heartland, Morrison’s initial emergence as a fighter was bolstered by a starring role in “Rocky V.” A few years later he beat George Foreman for the WBO heavyweight title, and seemed primed for more stardom, even in the face of blown opportunities and upset losses. But everything changed in early 1996 when he tested positive for HIV, abruptly forcing him into retirement at age 27. From there, Morrison’s life spiraled further and further downward, plagued by drug problems, jail time, and an eventual denial that he had the virus at all.
Félix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya, billed as The Fight of the Millennium, was a boxing match held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip on September 18, 1999, to unify the WBC and IBF's world Welterweight championships.
Diego Corrales vs. José Luis Castillo was a boxing match in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on May 7, 2005. Corrales won the fight in the tenth round after himself being knocked down twice in the round.
Corrales never won another boxing match. A rematch between him and Castillo occurred on October 8, 2005. On the day before the fight, Castillo weighed-in 1½ lb over the 135 lb (61 kg) lightweight limit. Since Castillo did not make the weight, the fight became a non-title bout. The two fighters continued with the same fighting style that they had used in the first fight, trading inside punches throughout the first three rounds. Early in the fourth round, Castillo knocked down Corrales with a left hook to his chin. Corrales wobbled to his feet at the referee's count of ten, causing the fight to end. A third fight between the two was scheduled, but never took place, due to Castillo again coming in overweight and Corrales not willing to have to try to overcome a weight disadvantage again.
The film follows morning events at Bacvice beach. At dawn, before sunrise, the beach becomes a place of an unusual clash. From nearby clubs and cafes, numerous groups of young people cross the beach on their way home. At the same time, older people start coming. They walk, come, pass by and go.
Key figures from an infamous 2004 incident between players and fans at an NBA game in Michigan discuss the fight, its fallout, and its lasting legacy.
Christy Martin broke boundaries and noses as she rose in the boxing world, but her public persona belied personal demons, abuse and a threat on her life.
Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali's personal archive of "audio journals" as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend's life story.
The B Side Fighter
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.
RTL documentary about the career of Henry Maske.
Golden Girl is a film about the forces at play around Frida Wallberg, WBC world champion. It's about putting it all on the line in a deadly sport. About rosy dreams that crash into a nothing less than brutal reality.
Twelve top glamour models spent time in Tenerife learning to box in a grueling 'Boxing Boot Camp'. The result of weeks of blood, sweat and a lot of tears was six bouts of boxing as the girls went head-to-head in front of a packed London crowd.
Documentary film about Tony Halme, masculinity and populism. The film follows how Tony Halme created a mythical, highly masculine freestyle wrestling character, The Viking, who gained fame both in the ring and in the public eye and eventually became captivated by it. With his brash speeches, Halme fired the starting shot for the rise of the Finns Party. The voice of a forgotten section of the population, a protest against the ruling elite, were the building blocks of Halme's popularity. Halme's great popularity has served as a good example of a populist figure, admired within the deep ranks of the nation, who comes from outside the political elite and changes the direction of politics. Also, despite - or perhaps because of - his openly racist statements, he was part of changing the political climate in Finland to a more acrimonious one.
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.
In Isla Trinitaria, one of Ecuadors' most conflictive slums, two teenagers struggle to get ahead under the guidance of their mentor, a former boxer who seeks to redeem himself towards life. Siguiente Round is a character-driven documentary feature that closely follows their journey in the search of recognition, reflecting a story about friendship and resilience in a stigmatized community.
Goodbye Darling, I'm Off to Fight