Boxing, “the poor man’s sport,” has long given kids from America’s roughest neighborhoods an opportunity to escape violence with violence.
But with success in the ring comes new fights for which there is no training: champions are made and broken in the blink of an eye, and young men thrust into the spotlight are often ill-equipped for the fame and fortune that accompany a title belt.
Built around the stories of heavyweight legends Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins, the big screen documentary movie Champs balances these uncensored recollections with gorgeous reenactments, classic fight footage, and candid interviews with Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent. More than just a sports documentary, Champs examines what it means to pursue the American Dream through boxing, painting a picture of a controversial and unregulated sport in a moment of crisis.
