{"id":21266,"date":"2025-07-24T19:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/21266\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:40:07","slug":"11-best-boxing-movies-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/21266\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Best Boxing Movies of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s something about boxing that lends itself to such good movies. I think it’s the grittiness and stripped-down nature of just punching someone that makes us look at people closer and examine our own relationships with the world. <\/p>\n

Today, I want to review my favorite boxing movies and talk about why I believe they’re the best of all time. <\/p>\n

Let’s dive in. <\/p>\n

1. When We Were Kings<\/p>\n

Bar none, this is the best movie about boxing ever made. I know it’s a doc and not a feature, but if you want to understand boxing, this is the movie to watch. <\/p>\n

This Academy Award-winning documentary chronicles the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire. <\/p>\n

The film is a vibrant and delightful look at Ali at the height of his charisma and boxing prowess, capturing the cultural and political significance of the event.<\/p>\n

2. Raging Bull<\/p>\n

Martin Scorsese’s black-and-white masterpiece is a brutal and unflinching portrait of middleweight champion Jake LaMotta. <\/p>\n

It’s a dark movie that deals with a lot of personal demons. <\/p>\n

Robert De Niro’s transformative, Oscar-winning performance as the self-destructive and paranoid fighter is the stuff of legend.<\/p>\n

3. Rocky<\/p>\n

As a Philadelphian, I will always have a soft spot for Rocky. It’s the ultimate underdog story. The movie transcended the sports genre<\/a> to become a cultural phenomenon. <\/p>\n

Sylvester Stallone’s heartfelt script and performance as the down-and-out club fighter who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the heavyweight title. <\/p>\n

The film earned the Academy Award for Best Picture.<\/p>\n

4. Million Dollar Baby<\/p>\n

Clint Eastwood’s poignant and powerful drama stars Hilary Swank as Maggie Fitzgerald, a determined waitress who convinces a hardened trainer, Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), to take her on. <\/p>\n

It’s a riff on a father-daughter movie that breaks your heart over and over again. <\/p>\n

What begins as a classic boxing story evolves into a deeply moving exploration of friendship, ambition, and sacrifice. <\/p>\n

The film’s devastating third act earned it four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Swank, and Best Supporting Actor for Morgan Freeman.<\/p>\n

5. Creed<\/p>\n

Ryan Coogler’s masterpiece is both a thrilling boxing film and a powerful character study. It riffs on the Rocky mythos and adds a lot of heart for the new generation. <\/p>\n

Michael B. Jordan delivers a star-making performance as Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, who seeks to forge his own legacy with the help of a reluctant mentor, Rocky Balboa. <\/p>\n

The film’s innovative and technically impressive fight choreography and heartfelt story earned Sylvester Stallone a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.<\/p>\n

6. The Fighter<\/p>\n

David O. Russell takes on the true story of “Irish” Micky Ward. Mark Wahlberg stars as Ward, but it’s Christian Bale’s Oscar-winning performance as his troubled older brother and former boxer, Dicky Eklund, that steals the show. <\/p>\n

The film’s authentic portrayal of working-class life and its electrifying fight scenes make it a modern classic. And its cinematography and direction keep it feeling gritty and real. <\/p>\n

7. Cinderella Man<\/p>\n

Ron Howard’s inspiring biographical film tells the incredible true story of James J. Braddock, with a powerful performance by Russell Crowe. <\/p>\n

The story follows a washed-up boxer who makes a miraculous comeback during the Great Depression to become a symbol of hope for a nation. <\/p>\n

8. Ali<\/p>\n

Michael Mann’s ambitious biopic captures a pivotal decade in the life of Muhammad Ali, with Will Smith delivering a transformative and Oscar-nominated performance as the charismatic and controversial champion. <\/p>\n

We dig into Ali’s boxing career, his conversion to Islam, and his refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

9. The Set Up<\/p>\n

A classic film noir<\/a>, where Robert Ryan stars as an aging boxer who is supposed to take a dive in a fixed fight but decides to fight for his dignity instead. <\/p>\n

The film’s realistic portrayal of the seedy underbelly of the boxing world and its suspenseful narrative make it a hidden gem of 40s movies and one of the best boxing movies of all time. <\/p>\n

10. Fat City<\/p>\n

I feel like more people need to see this movie. Directed by the legendary John Huston, it’s a realistic look at the lives of two down-on-their-luck boxers struggling to survive. <\/p>\n

Stacy Keach and a young Jeff Bridges give powerful performances as fighters at different stages of their careers, clinging to the slim hope of a better life. <\/p>\n

Summing It All Up\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am a massive fan of boxing movies. I really think they dig deep into character and use physical action to show moral dilemmas. <\/p>\n

These are some of my favorites, but I’m pumped to hear yours. <\/p>\n

Let me know what you think in the comments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s something about boxing that lends itself to such good movies. I think it’s the grittiness and stripped-down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[9558,703,17794,49,48,82,17795],"class_list":["post-21266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-best-movies","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-sports-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}