There have been many movies made surrounding the world of boxing. Which actor do you feel was the best at portraying the fighter he played?

Robert DeNiro as Jake Lamotta
Denzel Washington as Hurricane Carter
Will Smith as Ali

are the ones I saw and well, to be honest I can't choose.

Robert DeNiro as Jake Lamotta
Denzel Washington as Hurricane Carter
Will Smith as Ali

are the ones I saw and well, to be honest I can't choose.

All three were nominated for Best Actors for those roles. Only DeNiro won, but all three were great performances.

When Mark Wahlbeg comes out in the movie about "Irish" Micky Ward, he might take the cake, he's from Boston so he knows the deal about Mick.

When Mark Wahlbeg comes out in the movie about "Irish" Micky Ward, he might take the cake, he's from Boston so he knows the deal about Mick.

Not only is the Mickey Ward film coming out, also a Sonny Liston film with Ving Rhames as Liston

Smith's preparation focused a lot on Ali's movement and that makes me pick him, the guy who played Foreman was good too

Hi,

you guys wouldn't include James Earl Jones playing Jack Jefferson (Johnson) in The Great White Hope, or Russel Crowe playing Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man? BTW, the worst all time performance, IMHO, was Jericho Rosales playing Manny Pacquiao in the Filipino production of The Manny Pacquiao Story.

Hi,

you guys wouldn't include James Earl Jones playing Jack Jefferson (Johnson) in The Great White Hope, or Russel Crowe playing Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man? BTW, the worst all time performance, IMHO, was Jericho Rosales playing Manny Pacquiao in the Filipino production of The Manny Pacquiao Story.

Thanks, I totally forgot about Crowe and Jones. They were just as good as Smith, Deniro and Denzel. Also, Errol Flynn as Jim Corbett was excellent as well. Those three belong in the poll

Will Smith as Ali was the best part of that movie, even though it wasn't that good. Ali as Ali doesn't count lol.

James Toney as Joe Frazier in Ali :boxing:

I just wanted to add one more movie to this list, though the actor playing the boxer's role probably shouldn't be on the above list. Humphrey Bogart's last film was a movie called The Harder They Fall. It was obviously about the life of Primo Carnera, - Toro Moreno in the movie . It was so obvious, Carnera sued to get some benefits from this movie, unfortunately he lost. Ironically, the bad guy in the movie was played by boxer Max Baer who pummelled Carnera in real life. The other main cameo in the movie was Jersey Joe Walcot who played Carnera's trainer. This is one heck of a great movie.

Hi,

you guys wouldn't include James Earl Jones playing Jack Jefferson (Johnson) in The Great White Hope, or Russel Crowe playing Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man? BTW, the worst all time performance, IMHO, was Jericho Rosales playing Manny Pacquiao in the Filipino production of The Manny Pacquiao Story.

I just wanted to add one more movie to this list, though the actor playing the boxer's role probably shouldn't be on the above list. Humphrey Bogart's last film was a movie called The Harder They Fall. It was obviously about the life of Primo Carnera, - Toro Moreno in the movie . It was so obvious, Carnera sued to get some benefits from this movie, unfortunately he lost. Ironically, the bad guy in the movie was played by boxer Max Baer who pummelled Carnera in real life. The other main cameo in the movie was Jersey Joe Walcot who played Carnera's trainer. This is one heck of a great movie.

i've seen the harder they fall, but i think james earl jones in great white hope was the best, then deniro as lamotta

Very good thread!

One of the least watched and underated, but still an excellent performance is by Corey Wallace as Joe Louis. He was just like him, plus he was a top ten heavy weight in the 40s too.

Will Smith was terrific as Ali, but the film itself didn't match Smith's performance for me.

De Niro in Raging Bull was superb!
Denzel gave a masterful peformance in The Hurricane as well

I would give the prize for best biographical performances to those guys 4sure

I don't know about Cinderella Man.. It was alright I guess

There have been many movies made surrounding the world of boxing. Which actor do you feel was the best at portraying the fighter he played?

This one is easy for me, Robert DeNiro - Raging Bull. Denzel was excellent in The Hurricane though, comes a close second.

Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock...

Will Smith was a terrible looking Ali. I didn't "believe" his performance and the film suffered. People were watching Will Smith on the movie not Ali.

Robert Deniro was the most "believable" in the group, that is why Raging Bull was a great movie. People saw the character Jake Lamotta in the film.

I think "believability" should be the main criteria in chosing the best actor. Just like the greatest boxing film of all time, "Rocky", people remember the character Rocky more than the actor.