CounterPunch (2017)

CounterPunch: Directed by Jay Bulger. With Oscar De La Hoya, David Diamante, Bernard Hopkins, Sugar Ray Leonard. The seasoned pro. The Olympic hopeful. The young up-and-comer. The ring is their home, and the titles are their dream. As boxing’ popularity wanes, three fighters at different stages of their career make sacrifices to pursue their dreams of becoming champions.

“This was an interesting approach to making a boxing documentary, as it follows three different boxers who are at three different stages in their careers. The problem was that the emphasis of the storytelling seemed to be more about the sport of boxing itself, opposed to the three people we were following. Because of that, it was difficult to be emotionally invested. Even the writer/director, who narrates the documentary (with inconsistency), could have elaborated on his own boxing story just a little bit more. He introduces himself at the beginning and sets the stage pretty well, but not long after the documentary begins, we forget that heu0026#39;s our storyteller. Thereu0026#39;s lots of interesting information in this piece, perhaps a bit too much for a 90-minute sitting, and it overshadows the human stories which are underdeveloped. The sport of boxing is an underdog in of itself, so itu0026#39;s nice to see a well-produced piece like this featured on Netflix. Boxing fans should like this, and it might have been more than just a u0026quot;boxing documentaryu0026quot; if it had a stronger narrative theme. But Iu0026#39;m a boxing guy, so much respect to the people involved.”