There is something fascinating about the life of boxers that make their stories ripe for movies. To me, the life of professional boxers are infinitely more interesting than those of musicians that Hollywood seems to have a hard on for with their biopics. And there are very few boxers out there who have ever been more colorful, more interesting and just plain old more entertaining to watch then Sugar Ray Leonard.
I still remember the first real boxing match I ever saw… it was billed as “The Superfight” between Sugar Ray Leonard (coming out of retirement) vs Marvelous Marvin Haggler. My dad and I snuck into the huge hockey area here in town where they were showing the fight on the big screen… it was a HUGE deal. I don’t think there has been a fight since that generated more publicity or buzz. Sugar Ray won.
Anyway, a movie on the life and times of Sugar Ray Leonard is something I thought should happen for a long time now. And it seems it’s finally in the works. The folks over at Moviehole give us this:
Peter Berg’s cousin, and the author of “Friday Night Lights”, H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger, is putting pen to paper on a biopic about boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, says Variety. Red Bird Cinema, a shingle run by actor Kevin Pollak (“The Whole Nine Yards”), were able to convince the sportsman to let them make his movie.
Leonard was one of the leading boxers of the 1970s and early ’80s, winning several WBC and WBA championships and a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He’s one of only two boxers to have been world champion in five different weight classes.
Now this is something I can get excited about seeing
Sugar Ray is on a reality show right now – The Contender
I think his story should be told as well – just not right now. He’s too young. The guy is in his early fifties. He should wait until he’s at least 65 to do a movie about his life.
sequel to Super Troopers would have to be called…”Super Rangers”
So THAT’s how Berg got the directing gig on Friday Night Lights, huh?