Behind the Scenes: What Fictional Media Doesn’t Tell You About the Realities of Boxing

Boxing is a sport that, despite being violent and bloody, is also one of the flashiest sports in the world. Anthony Joshua, for example, appeared at Milan Fashion Week in 2022 to represent Hugo Boss just weeks after he lost a world title fight to Oleksandr Usyk. But the glamour is undoubtedly shown the most in films such as Million Dollar Baby, where the protagonist always gets their chance to fight on the big stage.

In reality the average professional boxer is making around $35,000 annually, which is significantly lower than the US average salary of $59,000 yet comes with both short and long-term physical and mental health risks. In this short blog, I’ll briefly discuss how real boxing differs from boxing on the big screen.

HERE’S YOUR FIRST AND ONLY SPOILER ALERT

Marketing a fight – Theatrical Fight vs Technical Bout

Firstly, fights on the big screen almost always seem to end in a knockout (KO), that being when a fighter is knocked down and cannot rise and fight back in the given count, such as in Rocky II, where Rocky and Apollo both knock each other down but only Rocky rises before the referee has finished counting making him the winner. In professional fights, technical knockouts (TKOs) are far more common than their KO counterpart; TKOs usually occur between rounds when a referee or the fighter’s team decides it would be dangerous for them to continue.

TKOs/KOs are also far more likely to occur at a higher weight class, with 79% of heavyweight bouts ending in a knockout as opposed to 58% of featherweight fights and only 51% of strawweight fights – the lightest professional boxing weight class. Whilst every weight class has its own limitations, such as agility for a heavyweight boxer and lower strength for a strawweight, it is reasonably apparent that the heavier fighters are going to pack more of a punch than the smaller fighters, but a lot of the time they can also withstand more powerful blows, particularly to the body.

From here, it has to be noted that the powerful punches seen in films don’t represent the strategic nature and tactical decisions that have to be made by boxers, where defence, as well as jabs and footwork, is crucial. This is not to say that power isn’t essential. Still, a fighter who only relies on the big punches would be easily outwitted by Floyd Mayweather Jr and Oleksandr Usyk, who both have exceptional footwork and know when to strike.

Hollywood Heroes vs Everyday Fighters

Not only are real boxers not knocking out their opponent in every fight, but they also are not all one-dimensional heroes with clear-cut motivations and glorious chivalric storylines. Many boxers fight just because they’re good at it and enjoy it; for example, Josh Warrington graduated from the University of Leeds as a dental technician and was the son of a boxing coach, so he grew up around the sport, leading to him becoming a professional boxer alongside a fully qualified dental technician. There doesn’t need to be heartbreak, death, or revenge on the mind for a boxer to reach the heights of a world title; a lot of the time, all that is needed is to have grit and determination to train until you are the best you can be.

To further prove that boxing is a sport without luck, the average number of fights a professional boxer needs before getting a title fight is 22 across just short of 6 years. A boxer who starts his career at 18 could be 24 before he gets to fight on the world stage, all whilst beating older boxers who have conditioned and bulked up for twice as long as the younger boxer has been fighting.

It shouldn’t be said that every film misrepresents the sport through glamour. Raging Bull is one of the greatest boxing films of all time. Yet, it is more about the human side of its protagonist – Jake LaMotta, a middleweight champion in 1949 and how his decline as a boxer leads to him becoming a dangerously envious man. The film also accurately depicts LaMotta as a middleweight boxer rather than increasing his strength for theatrical reasons.

Reality vs Entertainment

The main objective of any film is to come out of the cinema feeling satisfied by the ending. Although fictional media, and even biographical such as Raging Bull, do not always accurately represent the true nature of boxing, they serve a purpose: to entertain a crowd. In reality, cinema will always enhance a story if it has the opportunity to make it more entertaining to an audience. Ridley Scott’s biographic Napoleon had the tyrant fire a cannon at the Pyramids of Giza; Braveheart has William Wallace depicted as a commoner who led an army; and Pocahontas has a relationship with John Smith. The catch is that none of this happened: Napoleon never shot the pyramids, William Wallace was a minor nobleman, and Pocahontas only knew John Smith through providing resources to his camp.

Whilst Napoleon is less than a year old, Pocahontas and Braveheart are now classic films despite their widely documented inaccuracies. Boxing films, although often inaccurate, are hugely entertaining and perform very well in the cinema, with Rocky and Million Dollar Baby receiving Academy Awards for Best Picture.

It should be said that many boxers do not seem to be bothered by the exaggeration of boxing; Sugar Ray Leonard even trained Hugh Jackman to become a more realistic boxer for Shawn Levy’s film Real Steel, which, given it’s practically a crossover between Transformers and Rocky, is probably one of the least realistic sports films available.

Conclusion

Boxing may be a brutal sport, leaving its mark on body and mind. But it’s also one of the most captivating, demanding immense dedication and athleticism. While Hollywood films often paint a glamorous, knock-out-filled picture, the reality is far grittier. From the strategic jab to the gruelling years of training, real boxing is a testament to human resilience and the pursuit of a dream, one often fought far from the bright lights of the big stage. So, the next time you settle in for a boxing movie, remember: the real story is far more complex and infinitely more inspiring.

If you want to know more about the realities of boxing and even see some amateur and low-end professional competitions then you can head to the England Boxing website to find out more!