A young man grows up In a mob controlled neighbourhood in Brooklyn. Being half Italian and half Puerto Rican he faces constant challenges. His father is a drunk and his mother is always working which gives him ample time to pound the sand bag. Michael Madsen plays a mob boss who sets up the boy with a trainer played by Danny Glover, seeing potential in him. His mother is killed by a hit and run driver which changes his life. He now strives to be middleweight champion of the world.They try and make a Rocky meets Goodfellas with mostly unbelievable characters. Alec Baldwin and Madsen do fine but the rest? The story focuses on his growing up and the life around him. The run time is two hours which is too long for this one. Mike Tyson's cameo was cheesy as he shows up to give the boxer a pep talk, which looks like he was reading off a prompt.

story has potential. But man most of the people in this movie deliver such bad lines and such bad acting its mostly painful. Save your time and watch something else its over 2h. 1h to 1:30 would be more than enough. Hope i save someone from watching this. A mixed blood kid grows up in a tough part of town. A mafia man helps him in his road in boxing. Sounds good right? Nope.Shannen Doherty is terrible, never though she was great but save me from her acting or lack of.Alec Baldwin has a very small part but is bearable. Danny Glover haven't seen him in a while and he did a reasonable job with what they gave him. Mike Tyson well just nice to see him i guess. William DeMeo does not look like a boxer and for me me seemed always kinda off but had a couple moments.

The movie contains a lot of cheesy, stagy acting. The story is choppy and there is excessive use of flashbacks. The movie has an almost amateurish quality to it, as if it was filmed in one take and then quickly edited and put together into one reel. Nevertheless, the movie tells a good story, about a young man struggling to be a success in the mean world populated by a lot of shady people. The movie succeeds in making the audience care about what happens to him. To be a winner he has to overcome numerous obstacles. Of course, the premise is contrived, but that aside, it still succeeds as a story. One leaves the theatre feeling good about the young man and about all he has to go through to achieve redemption. That the story is set in Brooklyn, New York gives it a gritty quality which further strengthens the movie. Although this movie has its flaws, it also has its strong points, and is worth watching.

William DeMeo really must be a nice and communicative guy. He produced, wrote and starred in this film (he's the main character: the Anthony Rodriguez guy, the boxer…) and I think he saved it too.I'm saying it because sometimes it's only because of him if some really badly written and really badly acted scenes did not kill the entire story. This is the (long: about two hours) story of a Brooklyn middleweight trying to fight his way through all the difficulties that life and a violent neighborhood put on his path. It's a classic, so don't expect anything original: the plot is catching nonetheless and some very good actors (Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover, William Madsen…) help the film shine and look more real.