Best Boxing Movies

Rocky is a 1976 film written by and starring Sylvester Stallone and directed by John G. Avildsen. It tells the rags-to-riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but good-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in Philadelphia. Balboa is also a club fighter who gets a shot at the. . . more

Raging Bull is a 1980 film directed by Martin Scorsese (Academy Award nomination - Best Director) adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from the memoir Raging Bull: My Story it is commonly ranked as one of the Greatest films ever made It stars Robert De Niro (Academy Award - Best Actor) as. . . more

The 2005 biographical film Cinderella Man tells the story of James J. Braddock. Directed by Ron Howard, and starring Russell Crowe as Braddock with Renée Zellweger as his wife Mae, the movie had an estimated budget of $88,000,000 and grossed $108.5 million world-wide. Paul Giamatti, playing. . . more

Rocky II begins with the 15th round of the Bicentennial fight from the first movie. The fight indeed lasts 15 rounds with each fighter suffering many injuries. After the fight, Rocky calls out for Adrian, who runs down to the ring. As Creed is announced the winner by split decision, Adrian and. . . more

Ali is an Academy Award-nominated 2001 biographical film which tells the story of Muhammad Ali. It stars Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey Wright, Mykelti Williamson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye (in her film debut), Michael Michele, Joe Morton, Giancarlo. . . more

Rocky IV is the fourth and most successful movie, in terms of box office gross, of the Rocky franchise. Rocky Balboa (played again by Sylvester Stallone), has said he plans to retire from boxing after recovering his title from Clubber Lang in Rocky III. A new sensation from the Soviet Union, Ivan. . . more

Million Dollar Baby is an Academy Award winning 2004 dramatic film directed by Clint Eastwood. The film stars Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of an under-appreciated boxing trainer, his elusive past and his quest for atonement in helping an underdog amateur female boxer. . . more

The Hurricane is a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington. It purports to be the true story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, whose conviction for triple murder was set aside after he had spent almost twenty years in prison. The film narrates the life of middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter,. . . more

Rocky III (1982) is the third installment in the Rocky movie series. It stars Sylvester Stallone as the title character, with Carl Weathers as former boxing rival Apollo Creed, and Talia Shire as Rocky's wife, Adrian. Rocky's opponent is Clubber Lang, played by former bodyguard Mr. T. Lang is a. . . more

When We Were Kings is a 1996 documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in (what was then called) Zaïre (now called the Congo, all references are to Zaire) on October 30, 1974. It is. . . more

Rocky Balboa is a 2006 film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia Pictures, and Revolution Studios, written by, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone as underdog boxer Rocky Balboa. It is the sixth and final film in the Rocky series, which began with the Oscar-winning Rocky thirty years earlier. . . more

The Great White Hope tell the fictionalized -- and perhaps idealized -- life story of boxing champion Jack Johnson, here called Jack Jefferson. Acting as a lens focused on a racist society, The Great White Hope explores how segregation and prejudice created the demand for a "great white hope" who. . . more

Gabriel Caine (James Woods), a con man, is released from prison in the South and immediately gets to work on his next con. Caine and his partner, Fitz (Oliver Platt), travel to a small town not far from the prison: Diggstown – a city obsessed with boxing. A mean-spirited man named John Gillon. . . more

Gladiator is a 1992 feature film starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Marshall, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Loggia. The film tells the story of two teenagers trapped in the world of illegal underground boxing. One is fighting to save his father's life and using the money to pay off gambling debts. . . more

The Champ is a 1931 movie that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery (boxer) and Jackie Cooper (TJ), and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who. . . more

he Super Fight was a unique type of boxing match. Since Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano fought at different times, boxing fans often debated over who would have won in a fight between the two heavyweight champions. In 1970, a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano, staged using. . . more

Mountain Rivera is at the end of his boxing career after a knockout by Cassius Clay in the seventh round. His left eye is one punch from permanent trauma, his ears turned to cauliflower, his speech slurred from "being hit a million times," and he slings punches anytime he hears a bell, but his. . . more

Somebody Up There Likes Me is a 1956 drama film based on the life of middleweight boxing legend Rocky Graziano. Joseph Ruttenberg was awarded a 1956 Oscar in the category of Best Cinematography (Black and White). The film was also notable for being one of Paul Newman's first starring roles and for. . . more

The Quiet Man is a 1952 American film starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, and Barry Fitzgerald, and directed by John Ford. It was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story by Maurice Walsh. The film is notable for its lush photography of the Irish countryside and the long,. . . more

The Greatest is a 1977 film about the life of boxer Muhammad Ali, in which Ali plays himself. It was directed by Tom Gries and Monte Hellman. The Greatest chronicles the tumultuous life and career of self-proclaimed 'Greatest boxer of all-time', Muhammad Ali, between the fourteen year period of his. . . more

The 1996 movie The Great White Hype stars Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Berg, Damon Wayans, Jeff Goldblum, Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, John Rhys-Davies and Jamie Foxx . Jackson stars as Rev. Sultan, promoter of a champion boxer roughly based on Don King, who decides that he needs something new to boost. . . more

The film stars Robert Ryan (Ryan was a boxing champion while a student at Dartmouth College) as Stoker, an aging boxer who lives to fight. His manager is sure he will lose his last match so he takes money for a "dive" from a tough gambler, but doesn't tell Stoker. Suspense builds when Stoker is. . . more

Undisputed is a 2002 action movie released through Miramax. The film starred and was co-produced by Wesley Snipes, directed by Walter Hill, and written by David Giler and Walter Hill, who is probably best known as the writer/director of 48 Hours and Streets of Fire, but had most recently directed. . . more

Rocky V is the fifth film in the Rocky film saga. It was released on November 16, 1990. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Stallone's real life son Sage Stallone and real life boxer Tommy Morrison as boxer Tommy Gunn, an ingrate character who only uses Rocky for his connections and to. . . more

The film tells of alcoholic farm laborer Tully (Stacy Keach) who lives with Oma (Susan Tyrrell) and is trying to make a boxing comeback. Yet, his personal problems overpower him. Fellow Stockton resident and fighter Ernie (Jeff Bridges) takes Tully's advice to join Ruben's (Nicholas Colasanto) gym. . . more

Golden Boy is a 1939 black-and-white Columbia Pictures drama film based on the Clifford Odets play of the same name. It features William Holden in the role that made him a star: a promising violinist who wants to be a boxer. Barbara Stanwyck plays his love interest. The supporting cast included Lee. . . more