Actors as Boxers: Champs or Chumps?

The hightlight of his dedication to the role?

It’s one thing to transform one’s body to pass as a pugilist.

It’s an entirely different matter to deliver a punch with bad intentions and take one.

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As he said, ‘‘It’s more than semi-autobiographical.

Sadly, it’s almost a documentary.’’

Her aspiring boxer is all force but no technique, says her trainer, and that seems about right.

The Oscar-winner dropped 44 pounds to look and move like professional.

‘‘I told him to take a lot of photos,’’ director Norman Jewison said.

‘‘I informed Denzel, ‘You will never look this good again in your entire life.’

Jojo Whilden

He even trained with former champ Barry McGuigan, who eventually considered his pupil a professional-caliber pug.

Unfortunately, the film’s fight scenes feel so calculated and overtly cooperative that Day-Lewis’ dedication is shortchanged.

He coulda been a contender.

Adam Carolla | Adam Carolla ( The Hammer , 2008) Carolla used to box, so the role of an aimless, underachieving 40-year old who once showed some promise

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But Gossett is no middle-aged knockout specialist, like George Foreman.

He insisted they always wear headgear, though to protect the boxing legend!

Still, he gave the aging LaMotta three black eyes and a fractured rib.

Million Dollar Baby, Hilary Swank | Hilary Swank ( Million Dollar Baby , 2004) In the early scenes of Clint Eastwood’s movie, Swank’s Maggie Fitzgerald looks to be in danger of

Merie W. Wallace

Voight is in fair enough shape for anyone who isn’t a boxer.

So he has that going for him.

And that’s not because there’s brutal carnage.

Cinderella Man, Russell Crowe | Russell Crowe ( Cinderella Man , 2005) Crowe dropped more than 50 pounds (after starring in Master & Commander ) to play the Depression-era heavyweight

George Kraychyk

He paws at his opponents and swings wildly like a novice.

The most dangerous blow he ever delivers is when his buddy shakes him awake from a vivid boxing dream.

Chances are Garfield’s Charlie got knocked out in his sleep too.

Will Smith, Ali | Will Smith ( Ali , 2001) Smith had the unconventional task of gaining weight to play Muhammad Ali, adding 35 pounds of muscle to his

Frank Connor

Michelle Rodriguez, Girlfight | NO. 16: MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ as Diana Guzman in Girlfight (2000) WHO IS SHE? Aspiring Brooklyn boxer who challenges herself, her pugilist beau, and the macho

Girlfight: Independent Film Channel/ZUMA Press

The Hurricane, Denzel Washington | Denzel Washington ( The Hurricane , 1999) Washington only has one big scene in the ring, but he nailed the part of famed middleweight, Rubin

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Daniel Day-Lewis, The Boxer | Daniel Day Lewis ( The Boxer , 1997) Daniel Day-Lewis prepped for his role as an Irish boxer for about three years. Shocking, right? He

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Tom Cruise, Far and Away | Tom Cruise ( Far and Away , 1992) Cruise takes on the hungry look of young Irish scrapper, Joseph Donnelly, a Jack Dempsey style pug

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Louis Gossett Jr., Diggstown | Louis Gossett ( Diggstown , 1992) Gossett dropped 42 pounds in 14 weeks to play 48-year-old Honey Roy Palmer, who takes up a challenge to

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Raging Bull, Robert De Niro | Robert DeNiro ( Raging Bull , 1980) De Niro spent more than a year training to play rugged middleweight Jake LaMotta by sparring with the

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Ryan O’Neal ( The Main Event , 1979) O’Neal’s ‘‘Kid Natural’’ is far from being either, but the actor’s footwork in the ring isn’t half

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Jon Voight, The Champ | Jon Voight ( The Champ , 1979) Maybe Voight spent months in the gym to play Billy Flynn, the washed-up boxer who makes a comeback

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Clint Eastwood, Any Which Way You Can | Clint Eastwood ( Every Which Way But Loose , 1978) Technically, Philo Beddoe isn’t a boxer; he’s a bare-knuckle fighter. And Eastwood, who boxed a

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Rocky, Sylvester Stallone | Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa ( Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky Balboa ) His conflicted boxer with a heart of

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Stacy Keach, Fat City | Stacy Keach ( Fat City , 1972) Keach’s memorable performance as a sauced palooka will break your heart, and no boxer has ever captured the

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James Earl Jones | James Earl Jones ( The Great White Hope , 1970) The climactic heavyweight title match between Jones’ Jack Jefferson — based on famed champ and

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Paul Newman, Somebody Up There Likes Me | Paul Newman ( Somebody Up There Likes Me , 1956) Paul Newman was a lover, not a fighter. Playing legendary middleweight Rocky Graziano was his

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Kirk Douglas | Kirk Douglas ( Champion , 1949) Douglas plays Midge Kelly, a young go-getter full of moxie, but he’s really just playing Kirk Douglas. He moves

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Robert Ryan, The Set-Up (Movie - 1949) | Robert Ryan ( The Set Up , 1949) Though it’s one of the best films ever made about the pungent cloud of larceny that lingers

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