I can’t say I’m necessarily a fan of boxing, granted, it’s a sport that makes for great cinema with everything from Rocky to the recent Oscar-winner The Fighter, not to mention even the bare-knuckle moments in something like Snatch, but when Mike Tyson was fighting I was absolutely interested. The guy was just so intense, but when his reign ended and he decided to bit Evander Holyfield‘s ear off I was pretty much done with boxing… Well, done considering how little I had invested in the first place.
That said, the cinematic intrigue boxing holds doesn’t end and it would appear the next interesting feature to arrive is in the form of the documentary Champs, set to premiere in theaters and on iTunes on March 13 and the trailer has just arrived.
Featuring the likes of Tyson and Holyfield along with some celebrity contributions including Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington and Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent. Personally, this is a sport I’ll never really understand and I’m even more baffled by UFC. Why do I want to watch people pummel each other to death? Why?
I remember I watched what I remember as one of the first UFC fight nights ever. Someone recorded it for me, I borrowed it and watched someone smash their elbows into a man’s head until blood was flying everywhere. I took no enjoyment out of it and haven’t watched a UFC fight since. I don’t know, maybe I’m just weak.
Anyway, here’s the trailer and complete synopsis for Champs, check it out below.
Boxing, “the poor man’s sport,” has long given kids from America’s roughest neighborhoods an opportunity to escape violence with violence. But with success in the ring comes new fights for which there is no training: champions are made and broken in the blink of an eye, and young men thrust into the spotlight are often ill-equipped for the fame and fortune that accompany a title belt. Built around the stories of heavyweight legends Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins, CHAMPS balances these uncensored recollections with gorgeous reenactments, classic fight footage, and candid interviews with Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent. More than just a sports documentary, CHAMPS examines what it means to pursue the American Dream through boxing, painting a picture of a controversial and unregulated sport in a moment of crisis.
