7 Celebrities that love the sport of Boxing

None is at the forefront of Hollywood’s tryst with boxing more than Sylvester Stallone What is it exactly that draws celebrities to boxing events like fireflies to light? Of course, that’s not to imply in the slightest that their interest in sport is exclusive to the sweet science, but yet there is something about boxing that a large number of actors and pop-icons seem to fluidly embrace.While it might be argued that the recently concluded Mayweather-Pacquiao bout did no favours to the image of boxing, what cannot be disputed was that the star-cast present at the event rivaled even that of a film festival.Here is a statistic for you. Close to 200 movies about boxing have been produced till date and if Jake Gyllenhaal’s recent release, Southpaw, is anything to go by, Hollywood’s fascination with pugilism displays no signs of abating just yet.Here then, is a look at 7 such celebrities whose love of boxing transcends the odd pair of fashionable ringside tickets and manifests itself as genuine support and passion for the sport.

#1 Mickie Rourke

A heavily tattooed Rourke training for his bout in Russia

Remember him? Yes indeed, the stereotypical Russian anti-thesis to Iron Man who inevitably got his behind kicked in his efforts to take over the world. (Does it ever end any other way?)

Anyways, Rourke was a professionally trained boxer in his younger days and even took a hiatus from his acting career from 1991 to 1994 to pursue the sport in all seriousness.

His connection with boxing achieved further notoriety when he fought an exhibition bout in Russia, ironically, which was then revealed to have been a fixed fight. In case you were wondering, it was his homeless opponent that went down rather unconvincingly in the 2nd Round!

The whole charade was marred by obvious connections to the underworld but while it certainly reflects Rourke’s continuing passion for the sport, it might serve his legacy better to not come out of retirement at the ripe old age of 62 under such shady circumstances.

#2 Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood with Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby

“The Man with No Name”, in his stoic manner, encapsulated the iconography of the Wild West with his machismo and gun-slinging exploits like no other. Indeed, after a career spanning more than 50 years, Clint Eastwood reserves god-like status in Hollywood.

One of his directorial highlights was Oscar winning boxing-centric drama, the Million Dollar Baby. With the movie revolving around the trials and tribulations in a female boxer’s life, Eastwood displays an acute understanding of the sport and its nuances in crafting out an all time classic. The movie won 4 Academy Awards and was equally well-received on the critics front as well.

He has also been sighted at boxing events on occasion and was unsurprisingly amongst the sea of recognizable faces that thronged to the Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao super-fight recently.

#3 Sylvester Stallone

Rocky inspired a generation of people, apparently even Pacquiao!

Sylvester Stallone arguably provides Hollywood’s most recognizable connect with the sport of boxing. The ‘Rocky’ series that featured Stallone generated so much main stream popularity that Rocky Balboa the character and boxer has been immortalized as an inspiration in contemporary lore.

It has also been suggested that the encounter between Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa in the first movie might have been loosely based on Chuck Wepner’s bout with Mohammad Ali in 1975, with Stallone apparently penning the Rocky script after watching the fight.

Either way, Sylvester Stallone’s penchant towards boxing is very real and was further evinced when he co-hosted Season 1 of the boxing reality series “The Contender” with boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard.

#4 Will Smith

Will Smith sharing a lighter moment with Muhammad Ali

When Will Smith was cast in a biopic about the greatest of all time Muhammad Ali, he quickly realized that he had to go all-in to pull off the performance convincingly. It was one thing to mimic the man and recite his poems, but replicating Ali in the ring was the real task at hand.

After a year’s worth of nose-against-the-wall training, during the course of which Smith even reportedly abstained from sex because Ali used to do the same in the lead-up to fights, his efforts bore fruits. Muhammad Ali had gone to watch Will Smith training and was astonished at the actor’s dexterity in the ring and likeness to him.

All in all, this was not a mere portrayal of a character in a film, but an attempt to rise into the human being that was Ali; so much so that his fitness trainer and boxing coach Darrell Foster claimed that Will Smith could have even ascended into professional boxing once his training was complete.

#5 Mark Wahlberg

Wahlberg as Mickey Ward in the hugely successful film, The Fighter

From a pornstar to a fledgling actor to Oscar nominee, Mark Wahlberg’s rise in the movie industry has torn through stereotypes and hierarchies alike. While there are many things Wahlberg got right in his life, the $250,000 bet with Diddy on a Pacquiao victory against Mayweather wasn’t one of his more prudent calls. Taking into consideration that Diddy’s initial wager was only $100,000 and Wahlberg was the one who raised the stakes, is further damning.

However, take nothing away (except $250,000 plausibly) from Wahlberg who was prepared to put his money where his mouth was. Add to that his willingness to train hard for 2 years in order to pull off his role in “The Fighter” co-starring Christian Bale, and one can surmise that Mark Wahlberg certainly takes his boxing seriously.

#6 Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro playing Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull – battered and bruised, yet there is no quit in the eye

This little tale involves two stalwarts of Hollywood, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, their lengthy association and one of the works of art that they produced together. Growing up, De Niro was exposed to the initial commercial boom in boxing, in the period when the sport was gathering its legs of popularity and boxers were viewed as social icons.

Jake LaMotta, known for his grueling battles(6 of them!) with Sugar Ray Robinson and his characteristic gung-ho style in the ring, was one such boxer of Italian descent that Robert De Niro naturally gravitated towards. Despite pestering his long-time friend Scorsese to do a movie about him for a prolonged length of time, it was not until after the director went through tumultuous times in his own life that he gained sufficient perspective into De Niro’s offer.

35 years on, the movie “Raging Bull” is revered by movie-buffs as a cult classic and stands out as one of the directorial highlights of Scorsese and surely one of De Niro’s most convincing performances. Needless to say, Robert De Niro still remains an ardent fan of the sport.

#7 Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington had to put on close to 60 pounds of muscle for the movie Hurricane

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a middleweight boxer who was wrongfully convicted of a murder and served nearly 20 years in prison from 1966 to 1985, before being acquitted. His autobiography, “The Sixteenth Round – From Number 1 Contender to #45472” charts his life journey, from rough and irresponsible beginnings to eventual spiritual salvation. The book inspired Bob Dylan to write the song “Hurricane” and also moved Denzel Washington into producing a biopic on the boxer.

The movie earned rave reviews and critical acclaim in light of Denzel Washington’s astute acting but it was telling that the actor had immersed himself into a full-blooded training camp for 15 months in order to look the part and also effectively reproduce Rubin Carter’s in-ring exploits.

Today, Washington himself admits that his initial brush with boxing left an indelible impression on him that stuck. Despite having touched 60, he still keeps himself fit and active with an occasional bout of boxing whenever he can.