Based on the trailer, I’d say that the Mark Wahlberg flick “The Fighter” may be a better than average boxing movie.
Telling the true tale of Lowell, Mass., brothers Irish Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund (who fought Sugar Ray Leonard), this just one smells real.
I fought in the Lowell Golden Gloves back in the day and, for a small city, Lowell has produced a stream of give no quarter fighters.
I floated like a butterfly and stung like a moth at a scrawny 135 pounds and then at welterweight.
So did a crude but hammer punching heavyweight from Catskill, NY, named Mike Tyson.
One of my favorites was Irish Larry Carney, who promoter Subway Sam Silverman used to match with Italian American Joe DeNucci every St. Patrick’s Day.
But Lowell also claims Ward, whose wars with Arturo Gatti are epic stuff.
And then there were the Jaynes Brothers, Beau and Jimmy.
Some guys from Lowell weren’t gifted like Ward and the drug-addled Eklund.
But I never saw a fighter from Lowell who did not come to fight. blood, sweat and tears.
I’m looking foreward to seeing this flick when Wahlberg and co-star Christian Bale come to Texas for the Antonio Margarito-Manny Pacquiao fight and they hold a special showing for the fight scribes.
In case you didn’t know, “Marky Mark” is, like most of Hollywood, a huge Pacman fan.
The Paramount drama, co-starring Amy Adams and Melissa Leo, is about Ward (Wahlberg) and his unlikely path to become world lightweight champion. Bale plays Dicky Eklund, Mickey’s half-brother and a talented fighter who once went the distance with Sugar Ray Leonard in a title fight but then turned to crime and landed in prison. He then turned his life around and helped his under-performing brother find the spark for a remarkable run that led to the world title.
