‘The Fighter’ hits home with boxing fraternity

In one of the most striking scenes in “The Fighter,” Micky Ward unleashes words that strip boxing to its essence.

“I’m sick of being a … disappointment,” barks Ward, portrayed by actor Mark Wahlberg.

FOR THE RECORD:
“The Fighter”: An article about the film “The Fighter” in the Dec. 23 Sports section reported that boxer Micky Ward lost a fight to Alfonso Sanchez. In fact, Ward rallied to knock out Sanchez. —

Poised for Academy Award nominations next month while already in the running for numerous Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild honors including best film, “The Fighter” has earned kudos — mostly for the realistic moments such as Ward’s epiphany.

Praise is also coming from real-life boxers.

“Most fighters end up becoming a fighter to overcome some hassle or personal problem,” said Paulie Malignaggi, a former junior-welterweight world champion from Brooklyn. “You come from a good life or a Harvard degree, you aren’t going to be a fighter.”

From the greasy hair-straightening habit of Ward’s junkie half-brother and cotrainer Dicky Eklund, played by Christian Bale, to the domineering ways of a mother the boxer calls Alice, the film invested in the reality of Ward’s path in Lowell, Mass., from a seven-loss “steppingstone” opponent to a world title.

“The authenticity was extremely important to us,” director David O. Russell said.

Russell said that beyond Wahlberg’s commitment to honoring the truth of his close friend Ward’s story, he employed the actual policeman/cotrainer, Mickey O’Keefe, who Ward had in his corner, and they filmed inside the same gym, Art Ramalho’s, where Ward worked out.

“O’Keefe was the cop to Eklund’s criminal. He knew how they trained, how they worked the mitts, and the family situation,” Russell said. “We choreographed from Micky’s fights, and Mark’s workout scenes — jumping rope on the heels, doing those helicopters on the chin-up bars — were Micky and Dicky’s workout.”

Bale spent time consulting with Freddie Roach in the Hollywood gym of the man who trains world champions Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan.

Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez called the film’s training and fight scenes “realistic and phenomenal,” and said he was moved by “the struggle of becoming a fighter … and the quest one takes to become a world champion.”

Ward said the commitment to re-creating believable boxing action was consistent with the filmmaker’s interest in limiting the Hollywood effect on a story that, according to associate producer and boxing promoter Lou DiBella, “is not a boxing movie; it’s a family movie.”

“What made me want to do the film is what was happening outside the ring, with Micky’s drug-addicted brother, his mother managing him with the gang of seven sisters,” Russell said. “At one point, Micky tells them, ‘I know it’s just me in the ring,’ but he’s telling them what he takes into the ring is his environment.

“It wasn’t going well. Then he meets the girlfriend who starts pulling him away from that, and the opera plays out. Every fighter, every person has to decide how to operate their own lives.”

DiBella is a former HBO boxing executive who put Ward’s 2000 title bout versus Shea Neary on the cable network.

Another bout, in which Ward lost to Alfonso Sanchez, is prominently featured in the film, with pay-per-view boxing analyst Larry Merchant of HBO lamenting in original footage, “Micky Ward is 31. He’s here because he needs the money. He’s taking a beating. This is one of the saddest sights in boxing.”

DiBella promoted Ward through his legendary trilogy against Arturo Gatti that went oddly absent in the film. Yet he argues the trilogy wasn’t necessary because the heart of the film was revealed to be “what keeps me in the business.”

“These poor kids, from broken homes, possibly with parents in jail — these guys take refuge in the boxing gym,” DiBella said.

Former world lightweight champion Juan Diaz called Ward’s story “inspirational” but said he couldn’t help but get distracted by the film’s “staged” situations.

“In one fight, he was getting beat up the whole time, then he puts his head down and throws one body shot that ends the fight. That would never happen,” Diaz said.

When Wahlberg was throwing nothing but uppercuts against the hand bags held by Bale, Diaz noticed: “You’re supposed to throw straight shots and hooks against the hand bags.

“He tried. I give them credit for making it as real as they could. But us boxers could tell the difference.”

Ward’s former promoter, Al Valenti, said the film strongly captured the desperation of Ward’s crack-cocaine-afflicted hometown of Lowell.

“Micky’s ability to survive that insanity was a testament to his veracity and how steadfast he was,” Valenti said. “I can’t remember HBO ever putting on a fighter with that many [losses], but his courage, the way he fought was unmistakable, and it paid off for HBO with 30 unforgettable rounds against Gatti. Micky Ward never left anything in the ring, and that, to me, is the epitome of boxing.”

Ward said he’s now married to the woman portrayed by Amy Adams in the film, and that he helps train fighters while working as a driver for the Teamsters in Lowell.

His mother, now 80, “was OK” with the film, he said. Asked how his half-brother Eklund is doing, Ward said: “Good. But do you got any wood I can knock on for saying that?”

DiBella says Ward’s survival took more than luck.

“I love the way this film captured Micky as a good soul,” he said. “He’s put up with a lot of stuff that would drive other people crazy.”

Malignaggi agrees.

“Fighters have a lot to overcome,” he said.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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