Watch Assault in the Ring For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

People are voting emotionally.

Great Film overall

The acting in this movie is really good.

Eric Drath recounts a great boxing story but in doing so defiles it. From the Michael Moore school of documentary making, he takes an already exploited, broken man and exploits him some more - always looking for a money shot.Sending Mr Resto to see his estranged family and then, without prior warning to see the Collins family was beyond crass.Any documentary maker who needs to put his own face in his film is flawed. It's a great story and actually does unearth new evidence about the tragedy. It's just a pity that the project was devoid of integrity, empathy and compassion.Watch Ring of Fire or No Mas instead.

On a summer night in 1983, two welterweight boxers met at center ring in front of a large Madison Square Garden crowd. The boxers were on different levels, with Billy Collins having been pegged for stardom and Luis Resto considered by most to be a tune-up fighter, though one with a solid reputation. The battle lasted ten rounds before Resto was named the winner. What should have been a career-making victory for Resto turned out to be short lived as almost immediately it was discovered that Resto's gloves had been tampered with. The padding had been removed from the gloves, essentially allowing Resto to pummel Collins with bare knuckles (see the photo below). For Resto, this meant the end of his boxing career, a stint in jail, and a haunted past. The fight was even more harmful for Collins, who never fully recovered from the beating which, combined with his already dark disposition, led him down a rough path toward a tragic death. 25 years later director Eric Drath follows Resto as he attempts to come to grips with the results of the fight.Considering the damage he inflicted on Collins (and his family), Resto is an exceedingly sympathetic figure. A poor immigrant from Puerto Rico, Resto found not only a livelihood but also significance when he showed some talent in the ring. He had a chance to better his life and the lives of his family members and he worked extremely hard to make that happen. He learned early on, however, that you never question the men in your corner and that would ultimately lead to his undoing. He didn't remove the padding from the gloves himself but as he reluctantly admits about halfway through the film, he knew something wasn't right. Resto buried himself under a mountain of guilt not only because of the impact the fight had on Collins but because of the way he had disrespected his sport. His grief is written all over his face. By all accounts, this fight ended two lives with Resto holding on as a shell of a man, estranged from friends and family and unable to find redemption.Drath offers just that, redemption, with a whirl-wind tour to the homes of all those affected by the fight. Resto is given the opportunity to confront his former trainer, Mario Costa, the man ultimately responsible for the customized gloves. While Resto spent two years in prison, Costa was simply stripped of his trainer's license due to a chain of custody issue that resulted in his court case being thrown out. Upon their first on-screen meeting, I was immediately struck by how much power Costa still held over Resto. Here stood the man responsible for Resto's troubles and yet he could not even look him in the eye. When questioned about the events of that night, Costa denies and feigns offense but in later footage he makes it abundantly clear that he would never admit his wrongdoing. It is abundantly clear that while Resto may have known something wasn't right when he stepped into the ring, Costa knew exactly what the game plan was. Drath also sheds a little light on the New York Athletic Commission, leading one to wonder what kind of shady business was conducted behind closed doors and under grimy tables on the way to that night's infamous events. In this sense, Drath allows "Assault" to illustrate what a shady business professional boxing truly is.If Resto's confrontation with Costa is somewhat unsatisfying, his other meetings pick up the slack. He finally confesses his (limited) knowledge of the tampered gloves with his ex-wife and grown sons and you can see the relief wash over him. He weeps quietly when receiving forgiveness from Collins' widow and is even reunited with his mother and sister. It isn't a picture perfect ending, of course. Collins' father refused Resto's apologies and Costa provides no comfort for his former protégé. Still, Drath's simple and understated film finds a poignant groove and stays within in, capturing the essence of a man who has paid for his mistakes a thousand times over without hope of reprieve, almost as much a victim as the man he sparred with on that fateful night.Check out my site: httwww.thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com

In June 1983 up and and coming welterweight boxer boxer Billy Collins Jnr fought Luis Resto Collins record was 14wins 11 by KO while Resto had 20 wins , 8 by ko , 8 losses and two draws . It was expected to be a tough fight for Collins but one he was expected to win . Things didn't as expected though and Resto beat the up and coming fighter on points . Considering the damage Collins received in the match it was something of a surprise it went the distance . When Collins dad and trainer shook hands with Resto he instantly knew something was wrong . The referee and boxing commissioner were called over and Resto's gloves were examined . Most of the padding from them had been removed prior to the fight so effectively Resto had been hitting Collins with his bare hands . This documentary by Eric Drath tells of the fall out from the fight This is a documentary of two halves . Or rather a documentary of one third followed by two thirds . The first half hour is compelling stuff centering around one of the biggest scandals to have rocked the fight game . The pictures of the damage inflicted upon Collins are genuinely shocking . Boxing isn't a sport that attracts the faint of heart but to see Collins battered and swollen face is sickening . Due to this fight he suffered eye injuries that effectively ended his career . Seeing boxing was the only thing Collins knew and that he was being touted as a future star of the sport the lifestyle changes of Collins led to him going of the rails figuratively and going off the road in his car literally in something close to a suicide . Collins had effectively died that June night in 1983 If that first half hour doesn't get you very angry then the following hour will . What Drath has done is make a documentary that comes close to assassinating the memory of Collins . Apparently Collins didn't fight again had very little to do with the eye injuries he received but had more to do with his father and manager Billy Collins Snr trying to bring a multi million dollar court case against Resto's manager Panama Lewis and the boxing authorities . So someone receives a maiming in the ring brought by the most disgraceful cheating imaginable . They receive serious injuries that destroyed their career and they're supposed to just carry on with their life like nothing has happened ? They're just being greedy are they ? This is a disgusting line of thought and the fact the case was thrown out literally adds insult to injury Resto and Lewis didn't get off with their obscene attempt to cheat . Both of them had criminal charges brought against them and they both spent two and a half years in jail . Resto never fought again but Lewis was still employed as a trainer even though he remains banned from corners during fights . You can see Darth wanting to make Lewis the main villain of the documentary and that Resto too is a victim . Resto suffered terribly after his jail sentence , being unemployable and who lived in the cellar of a boxing gym . But this doesn't wash . It'd be impossible for a boxer to have had the padding of their gloves removed and not notice this . It's similar to people living next door to Dachau and Belsen and not to notice what was happening during the war . Resto eventually comes clean to knowing about the sabotaged gloves but that's telling us something we already knew . There was only one victim in that fight - the late Billy Collins Jnr

The film really starts off great as a very objective approach to what happened at the notorious Resto/Collins fight. But the film loses all credibility when the director breaks the fourth wall and starts parading Resto around.It is the cardinal sin of a documentary filmmaker to do anything but DOCUMENT. Here, the director pays to have Resto fly all over America and do something he would otherwise not do. That is not a documentary. That is "reality" television.Furthermore, his constant harassment of Billy Collins family is very uncomfortable. When a subject doesn't want to be interviewed, LEAVE THEM ALONE. There is nothing entertaining about watching a filmmaker bother someone until the police are called. It's something I would expect from network news, not a serious documentary filmmaker.It's really such a shame because the film had a lot of promise. I won't say it's completely a waste of time, but I felt the filmmaker could have made a great film without Resto's guilt parade.