BoxRec

On Sunday 24th October on BBC2.

Start time 9pm.

The Fight. Four part documentary series charting the long history of the sport of Boxing.

Duration 1 hour.

Sounds great, BBC Documentarys are usually very good.

From the BBC web-stie.

The Fight is the story of boxing, in and out of the ring, from the bare-knuckle era to the mega-bucks business of today.
Centred around four of the greatest bouts ever fought, this BBC series presents a definitive blow-by-blow history of the noble art in the words of its greatest fighters, trainers, promoters and commentators.

This first programme traces the brutal origins of professional boxing and shows that, even though the rules have changed, the sport's most popular champions are often its most vicious.

It explains how boxing was 'civilised' and legitimised in the late 19th century as a spectator sport, moving from semi-lawless, bare-knuckle contests to the codified and regulated events of today.

And we see how, despite this taming of the sport, the public has always been fascinated by street fighters, the bad men of boxing, throwbacks to the vicious days of prize fighters and brawls.

From John L Sullivan to Jack Dempsey in the Roaring Twenties, to Mike Tyson in the modern era, the programme examines our fascination with three of the most ruthless champions in history.

Featuring impressive boxing archive from Sullivan's incredible 75-round title fight with Jake Kilrain in 1889, to Mike Tyson's defeat by Lennox Lewis in 2002, this is the story of how boxing's 'bad boys' remain its greatest folk heroes.

KOJOE90 wrote:On Sunday 24th October on BBC2.

Start time 9pm.

The Fight. Four part documentary series charting the long history of the sport of Boxing.

Duration 1 hour.

Sounds great, BBC Documentarys are usually very good.

I'm not looking forward to this one. From what I've read, the BBC are going to claim that boxing fans glorify in the bad boys: the Tysons, etc.
To me, this is another BBC "We don't know anything about the sport" pile of crock.
Hope I'm wrong.

wonder which 4 bouts they picked ?

Phoenix wrote:wonder which 4 bouts they picked ?

Probably your usual uninformed quartet.

Ali - Foreman

Hagler Hearns

Dempsey - Tunney

Douglas - Tyson

Or something like that.

Or even worse, probably something with Naz.

knockout artist wrote:

Phoenix wrote:wonder which 4 bouts they picked ?

Probably your usual uninformed quartet.

Ali - Foreman

Hagler Hearns

Dempsey - Tunney

Douglas - Tyson

Or something like that.

Or even worse, probably something with Naz.

they arent picking four individual bouts. its a series on the history of boxing and its evolution!

worth checking out

lets hope they don't make a pigs ear of it.

From what I recall Boxing documentarys shown on BBC2 have usually been very good.

At least its a programme on boxing, on non sky tv.

seems the BBC are damned if they do and Damed if they don't by some people on this forum

KOJOE90 wrote:On Sunday 24th October on BBC2.

Start time 9pm.

The Fight. Four part documentary series charting the long history of the sport of Boxing.

Duration 1 hour.

Sounds great, BBC Documentarys are usually very good.

Just a reminder.

I'll be watching it later on, just another quick reminder if anyone else is on here

WTF, its turned into a Tyson documentary. Thats pretty cheap.

i thought it was pretty enjoyable and not too misinformed.

however, it was never going to live up to that documentary about joe louis' fight with max schmeling which was simply awesome.

Riddick Blowe wrote:i thought it was pretty enjoyable and not too misinformed.

however, it was never going to live up to that documentary about joe louis' fight with max schmeling which was simply awesome.

Agreed, I thought it was well put together with only a few tiny errors. It appeared to be aimed more at the casual fan as opposed to the more 'hardcore' fan, but there was a few clips I had no seen before.

Bit too much on Tyson, but that's seems to be the norm these days.

There was a quick clip near the start that looked like Dempsey fighting someone on a beach, anyone know who the opponent was?

Was the bit about Jake Kilrain drinking a quart of whisky during the fight true? Never heard that bit before..a quart?? Isn`t that 2pints???

Also that left hook of Dempsey`s hitting Willard looked better than I remember it, some shot eh.

tonyevs wrote:Was the bit about Jake Kilrain drinking a quart of whisky during the fight true? Never heard that bit before..a quart?? Isn`t that 2pints???

I read something simular a few years back, can't remember where though, no idea if it is true.

KOJOE90 wrote:

tonyevs wrote:Was the bit about Jake Kilrain drinking a quart of whisky during the fight true? Never heard that bit before..a quart?? Isn`t that 2pints???

I read something simular a few years back, can't remember where though, no idea if it is true.

Tyson named one of his first kids after Kilrain - what a tough SOB he must of been to slug it out with John L for so long....

Not a bad programme, other than the start. The "actors" for the John L. Sullivan fights looked like extras from a Guy Ritchie film. If they must have reconstructions, at least choose actors that in some way resemble the fighters they are supposed to be. Also, there is some footage of Sullivan they could have included, not to mention countless photos, which they instead replaced with still shots of their "lock stock" characters. Thankfully the Dempsey and Tyson bits were better!

tonyevs wrote:Was the bit about Jake Kilrain drinking a quart of whisky during the fight true? Never heard that bit before..a quart?? Isn`t that 2pints???

Also that left hook of Dempsey`s hitting Willard looked better than I remember it, some shot eh.

I think it might be a tad more than 2 pints.

Yeah, that punch of Dempsey's was a peach, really torqued into it. Did they re-vamp the footage of the fight in this documentary? I've seen old fights that look completely different depending what speed they're played at...

Yet another rehash of clips from the '100-years of boxing' or 'Henry Cooper's Heavyweight History' type videos you can buy.

Still, you can't expect much from something that's been done loads of times before.

Still, the Willard v Dempsey fight never seems to amaze me. When he's holding onto the ropes and Dempsey is just clubbing away like a hunter slamming a large seal. You can almost imagine Dempsey thinking 'geez - will you just go down already!!!?' And to think, the poor bastard was called a coward for quitting after that fight!!!

Also, I don't know if anyone else can enlighten me, but you can never see just quite where the last punch in the Tyson v Spinks fight landed. Obviously somewhere around the chops, but no matter how many times you watch it, you can't quite see it go in. Unlike the left uppercut that nearly takes Spinks head off, before Tyson's bodyshot puts him down the first time. Superb punch that, the way Tyson feints before he slams it through Spinks' guard.

*Alex* wrote: Also, there is some footage of Sullivan they could have included, not to mention countless photos, which they instead replaced with still shots of their "lock stock" characters.

That thought crossed my mind as well, although the reconstructions didn't bother me too much. But I was worried for a while that all the action was going to be reconstucted.

Didn't I read a few months ago that a British fighter was being lined up to take part in a Boxing Documentary? Someone like Booth or Swaby??

What was the fight where Dempsey allegedlly had a iron bollt in his glove. I cant remember the opponent off the top of my head but he apparantly kept the bolt as a souvineir. Was it the willard fight?

Dempsey was the Man!!

Don`t know about the bolt in the glove but I heard about plaster of paris being sprinkled onto the bandages..
Am I correct in saying Doc Kearns spread some stories on these lines when he got dropped as Dempseys manager?

Harry Carpenter met with the guy who alledgedly been hit by the bolt. The guy was 88yrs old at this time and showed Harry the instrument alledgedlly used which he had kept as souvineir.

The instrument had been placed inside the thum part of the glove(i think) and when watching the fight it was clear Dempsey was hitting the opponent with this part of his glove on more than a few occasions.

tonyevs wrote:Don`t know about the bolt in the glove but I heard about plaster of paris being sprinkled onto the bandages..
Am I correct in saying Doc Kearns spread some stories on these lines when he got dropped as Dempseys manager?

One of boxings urban myths, dempsey with the loaded gloves!! the story goes that Kearns, or someone, has dipped Dempseys gloves in plaster of paris which gradually hardened during the course of the fight. this myth was born due to the amount of damage dempsey inflicted upon willard.

however there is a perfectly clear picture in Roger Khans book 'a flame of pure fire' that shows dempsey climbing into the ring prior to the willard fight without his gloves on, this was the days when the fighters gloved up in the ring, and the bandages over his fists are perfect. there is absolutely no sign of plaster of paris, horsehoes, anvils or tanks (ala popeye).

ill try and scan the pic and post it when i get home from work tonight.