Fists of Steel is a 1988 American straight-to-video film. It stars Carlos Palomino, Henry Silva, Marianne Marks, Kenny Kerr, Sam Melville, Robert Tessier, Alexis Arguello and Rockne Tarkington. [1] The movie was directed by Jerry Schafer. Apart from Palomino and Arguello, other former professional boxers appear in supporting roles, namely Ruben Castillo, Danny Lopez and Armando Muniz. [2] [3]
A terrorist organization based in Hawaii, headed by "Shogui", has murdered several of their rivals, including the father of former world boxing champion and Vietnam War veteran "Carlos Diaz". The Central Intelligence Agency gets involved, recruiting Diaz, who in turn recruits "Alex" and a group of other former boxers to help fight the terrorists. Diaz then travels to Hawaii to confront the terrorists. [4]
Commenting on Palomino's choice to play in the film, the Los Angeles Times wrote, ”Not a potential masterpiece, but Lee Majors made a living playing a bionic guy, so why not?’ [7]
Alexis Argüello was a Nicaraguan professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 1995, and later became a politician. He was a three-weight world champion, having held the WBA featherweight title from 1974 to 1976; the WBC super featherweight title from 1978 to 1980; and the WBC lightweight title from 1981 to 1982. Additionally, he held the Ring magazine and lineal featherweight titles from 1975 to 1977; the Ring lightweight title from 1981 to 1982; and the lineal lightweight title in 1982. In his later career, he challenged twice for light welterweight world titles, losing both times in famous fights against Aaron Pryor.
Wilfredo Gómez Rivera, sometimes referred to as Bazooka Gómez, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer and three weight world champion. He is frequently mentioned among the best Puerto Rican boxers of all time by sports journalists and analysts, along with Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Esteban De Jesús, Edwin Rosario, and Carlos Ortíz.
Wilfred "Wilfredo" Benítez is an American-born Puerto Rican former professional boxer and the youngest world champion in the sport's history. Earning his first of three career world titles in separate weight divisions at the age of seventeen, he is best remembered as a skilled and aggressive fighter with exceptional defensive abilities, along with his fights with Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns, and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Ray Mancini, better known as "Boom Boom" Mancini, is an American former professional boxer who competed professionally from 1979 to 1992 and who has since worked as an actor and sports commentator. He held the WBA lightweight title from 1982 to 1984. Mancini inherited his nickname from his father, boxer Lenny Mancini. In 2015, Mancini was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Jesús Carlos Zárate Serna is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1970 to 1988, and held the WBC bantamweight title from 1976 to 1979.
Bobby Chacon was an American professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1988. He held titles in two weight classes, including the WBC featherweight title from September 1974 to June 1975 and the WBC super featherweight title from December 1982 to June 1983.
Dora Webber and Cora Webber are twin sisters who participate in women's boxing. They are from the U.S. state of Florida. It is believed that at one time, they were the only set of twins to actively participate on boxing's women's leg.
Rubén Olivares Avila is a Mexican former professional boxer and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame., Olivares was a world champion multiple times, and considered by many as the greatest bantamweight champion of all time. He was very popular among Mexicans, many of whom considered him to be Mexico's greatest fighter for a long period. He held the record for the most wins in unified title bouts in bantamweight history, at 6, a feat later surpassed by Naoya Inoue at 7. Olivares has also had both starring and cameo appearances in Mexican movies, and he participated in more than 100 professional bouts.
Anthony Baltazar is an American former boxer that competed in the Lightweight division. After an amateur career during which he won various titles, he turned professional in the late 1970s, and boxed the likes of Robin Blake, former world champion Roger Mayweather, Hector Macho Camacho and Carlos Bolillo Gonzalez, the last two of which Baltazar fought for world titles. Baltazar was a contender at the Lightweight and Jr. Welterweight divisions.
José Luis Ramírez is a Mexican former professional boxer who was a two-time World Lightweight Champion. His most notable fights include two fights each with Edwin Rosario and Pernell Whitaker as well as fights against Ruben Olivares, Alexis Arguello, Ray Mancini, Hector Camacho, Julio Cesar Chavez and Juan Martin Coggi.
Carlos Palomino is a Mexican former professional boxer. Palomino is a former World Welterweight Champion and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Palomino is also an actor who has been featured in several television shows and films. He achieved a considerable amount of fame during the 1970s, especially among Mexican and Southern California fans.
During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the '70s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over.
Rolando Navarrete is a Filipino former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 1991. He held the WBC super featherweight title from August 1981 and May 1982.
Rick Yune is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, and martial artist of Korean descent. His most notable roles have been in the movies Snow Falling on Cedars, the first Fast and Furious film The Fast and the Furious, the James Bond movie Die Another Day, and Olympus Has Fallen. He was part of the main cast of the Netflix original series Marco Polo.
Corey Yuen Kwai was a Hong Kong film director, film producer, action choreographer, and actor. Yuen attended the China Drama Academy and was one of the Seven Little Fortunes. In Hong Kong, he worked on several films such as Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972), Hwang Jang-lee's Snuff Bottle Connection, Secret Rivals 2, The Invincible Armour, Dance of the Drunk Mantis (1979), Ninja in the Dragon's Den (1982), Millionaire's Express (1986), and Jet Li's Fong Sai-yuk II (1993), The New Legend of Shaolin (1994), High Risk, and My Father Is a Hero.
Ruben Castillo is an American boxer who fought in the Featherweight division. Castillo went on to fight four world championship fights against Hall of Famers Salvador Sánchez, Alexis Argüello and Julio César Chávez, as well as with Juan Laporte.
Undefeated is a 2003 HBO television film starring and directed by John Leguizamo.
Armando Ramos was an American professional boxer and the former two-time WBC and WBA Lightweight Champion. He was born in Long Beach, California. Armando "Mando" Ramos was one of the most popular fighters in Southern California during the 1960s. Ramos was an outstanding amateur.
Armando Muñíz is a Mexican-born American former professional boxer and former NABF welterweight Champion. Muñiz was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team.