After being one of the most popular sports in the early twentieth century, boxing has fallen off the radar in this country in the last few decades. However, in recent months boxing appears to be on the cusp of something like a comeback. On March 7, NBC brought boxing back to prime time network television with Premiere Boxing Champions, and May 2 will see perhaps the highest-grossing boxing match in history with the long-awaited Mayweather-Pacquiao fight (speaking of which, check out my review of the recent Pacquiao documentary Manny here). However, knowing what has happened in boxing since Muhammad Ali finally hung up his gloves in 1981, should America welcome “the sweet science” back as one of the top sports in the nation?
Based on the title, one would expect Champs to be solely about boxing champions. While the documentary touches on the battles of former world heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield and former light heavyweight/middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins inside the ring, a majority of the documentary is devoted to the poisonous culture that the boxing industry perpetuates – taking men out of the ghetto, giving them riches beyond their wildest dreams, and eventually leaving them broke, physically destroyed, or both. Champs follows these three legendary fighters from the streets to prison (in Tyson and Hopkins’ case) to the ring, and (in Tyson and Holyfiend’s case) to post-boxing financial problems.
Director Bert Marcus (who produced the 2012 documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs) not only uses this documentary to tell the stories of these three men, but also to comment on prison culture in the United States and the lack of oversight in boxing, which leaves many former boxers – both big names and small – in rough shape, both physically and financially, after their boxing days are over. Rookie boxers make very little money – unlike other sports, which have base salaries, boxing has none – and it requires far fewer medical testing than other sports despite being far more physical. In that sense, Champs serves as a kind of “call to action” to establish an overseeing authority for the sport so fighters are no longer on their own handling business affairs and medical issues that they have little knowledge about.
Champs is filled with copious amounts of fight footage, including Holyfield’s controversial loss at the 1984 Olympics and Tyson’s heavyweight title victory against Trevor Berbick. Several of the interview subjects have such a tenuous connection to boxing that they add very little to the discussion, including Ron Howard, Denzel Washington, 50 Cent, Mark Wahlberg, Mary J. Blige, and Spike Lee. On the other end of the spectrum, some of the “expert” talking heads are unnecessary – is it really crucial to have two Manhattan university professors commenting on the causes and effects of inner-city poverty? Thankfully, most of the talking time is devoted to Tyson, Holyfield, and Hopkins, and those with close connections to boxing like promoter Lou DiBella and Larry “Ratso” Sloman (Tyson’s biographer). Tyson, in particular, is the most revealing. He admits that being world heavyweight champion and a millionaire messed with his head after growing up with nothing, and at one point says, “There’s six billion people on the planet. Anybody on this planet, you know you can beat them in a fair fight. You tell me, how does that feed your ego?”
Of course, the documentary covers Tyson and Holyfield’s first match and their “bite fight” rematch. It focuses on the descent that Tyson made from arguably the most famous athlete in the world to a penniless shell of his former self. Regardless of your opinion of Tyson, his depressing post-match interview after losing his final match will move you.
Fans of boxing are likely well aware of how dirty and dangerous the sport is, so Champs might not surprise them in the way that someone not particularly interested in boxing would be. Because of that, Champs isn’t really a documentary meant for boxing fans – it’s meant to spread the word about some of the major issues this nineteenth-century sport faces in the twenty-first century. While I’m not sure how many non-boxing fans will seek this documentary out, perhaps fans of other combat sports like MMA that are curious about what happened to the combat sport that started it all will want to watch Champs.
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