The People's Fighters: Teofilo Stevenson and the Legend of Cuban Boxing | |
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Genre | Documentary film |
Written by | Diego Hurtado de Mendoza Jon Weinbach |
Directed by | Peter Berg Diego Hurtado de Mendoza |
Narrated by | Peter Berg |
Music by | Arturo Cardelús |
Country of origin | United States |
Original languages | English Spanish |
Production | |
Executive producers | Federico di Mojana Yiannis Exarchos Greg Groggel Frank Marshall Mark Parkman Michael Tollin Jon Weinbach |
Producer | Diego Hurtado de Mendoza |
Cinematography | Jon Aguirresarobe Diego Hurtado de Mendoza |
Editor | Javier Dampierre |
Running time | 87 minutes |
Production companies | Mandalay Sports Media (MSM) The Kennedy/Marshall Company |
Original release | |
Network | Olympic Channel |
Release | May 31, 2018 |
The People's Fighters: Teofilo Stevenson and the Legend of Cuban Boxing is a 2018 documentary film directed by Peter Berg and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza that aired on the Olympic Channel in the United States. [1] Narrated by Peter Berg, the documentary includes archival footage as well as interviews with other Cuban Olympic medal winners. [2]
With a population of just 11 million people, Cuba has produced the most Olympic boxing medalists of any country in the world, winning 73 Olympic medals including 38 gold medals in the past 50 years. The documentary examines Teófilo Stevenson's career as well as the phenomenon of boxing in Cuba overall.
The film was produced as the second film in the Five Rings Films series. [2] [3] [4] Filming took place in the United States and Cuba. [5]
The film was broadcast on the Olympic Channel in the United States [1] on May 31, 2018. [5] [3] [6] [7]
ESPN staff writer Nigel Collins wrote, "Those who have not seen the freakish power in Stevenson's right hand are in for a treat. The documentary celebrates his dominance with footage of Teofilo dispatching U.S. hopefuls Duane Bobick, Tyrell Briggs and John Tate with alarming ease." He continued, "One of major strengths of 'The People's Fighter' is allowing the story to be told from the Cuban point of view. Berg's narration is smooth and informative but never presumptuous. The opinions are those of the people on the ground, the ones that count, the real stars of the film." [8]
The International Sport Movies TV Federation called it "an in-depth look at Cuba’s overwhelming history of success in the sport of boxing." [9]
Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence was a Cuban amateur boxer who competed from 1966 to 1986.
Félix Savón Fabre is a Cuban former amateur boxer who competed from 1980 to 2000. Considered one of the all-time greatest amateurs, he became three-time Olympic gold medalist, and the World Champion six times in a row, all in the heavyweight division. In 1988, when he was favored by many to win the gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, the Cuban government boycotted the event. Savón is particularly known for having rejected numerous multimillion-dollar offers to defect and leave Cuba permanently to fight Mike Tyson as a professional.
John Tate was an American professional boxer, and held the WBA heavyweight championship from 1979 to 1980. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Eliseo Castillo is a Cuban former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2009, holding the NABO cruiserweight title in 2006. He is the younger brother of Heavyweight boxer Elieser Castillo.
Roberto Balado Méndez was a Cuban amateur boxer, who competed from 1986 to 1994. At the 1992 Summer Olympics he won a Gold medal in the men's super heavyweight (+91 kg).
Boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place in the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California, United States. The boxing schedule began on July 29 and ended on August 11. Twelve boxing events were contested with the participation of 354 fighters from 81 countries. A Soviet-led boycott resulted in the withdrawals of the Soviet Union, Cuba, East Germany, Bulgaria and other Eastern Bloc nations from boxing competitions.
Odlanier Solís Fonte is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an amateur heavyweight, Solis was one of the most celebrated and decorated amateur stars of the 2000s, winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, and three consecutive golds at the World Championships in 2001, 2003, and 2005. Odlanier Solís beat Luis Ortiz multiple times in the amateurs, never losing to him.
Marvis Frazier is an American former professional boxer who fought in the heavyweight division.
Héctor Vinent Cháron was a Cuban amateur boxer, who won the Light Welterweight Gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics. Hector appears in Brin-Jonathan Butler's forthcoming documentary Split Decision. He currently trains athletes at the Istanbul-based gym Mugenhous in Turkey.
Duane David Bobick is an American former boxer. As an amateur, Bobick won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games and fought at the 1972 Olympics. He then turned professional in 1973 and retired in 1979 with a record of 48 wins and four losses, all by knockout. He scored notable wins over future heavyweight champion Mike Weaver and contenders Chuck Wepner, Scott LeDoux, Randy Neumann and Manuel Ramos. From 1973 to 1977, he compiled a record of 38–0 with 32 knockouts which made him the number 3 contender in the division before he was defeated by number 1 contender Ken Norton.
James Frederick DeGale is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middleweight titles between 2010 and 2012.
Robson Donato Conceição is a Brazilian professional boxer who has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight title since July 2024. As an amateur, he became the first Brazilian boxer to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.
Boxing is a popular sport in Cuba. As of 1992, there were over 16,000 boxers on the island. Across Cuba today there are 494 boxing coaches and 185 facilities. Of the 99,000 athletes in Cuba currently, 19,000 are boxers, including 81 of Olympic competence, even though only 12 make the Olympic team. Professional boxing was banned from 1962 until April 2022.
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in five weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female light heavyweight title and the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Federation (WBF) female heavyweight titles since July 2024; WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three division world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of October 2022, she is ranked the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.
Cuba competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's twentieth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Cuban team consisted of 124 athletes, 89 men and 35 women, across eighteen sports.
Ash-Shakur Nafi-Shahid Stevenson is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes from featherweight to lightweight.
The men's super heavyweight event was part of the boxing programme at the 1988 Summer Olympics. The weight class allowed boxers of more than 91 kilograms to compete. The competition was held from 22 September to 2 October 1988. 17 boxers from 17 nations competed.
Jon Weinbach is an American film and television writer and producer. He is currently President of Skydance Sports and was previously the executive producer and executive vice president for Mandalay Sports Media, a media and production company that focuses on sports entertainment programming.
The Cuban Boxing Federation (FCB) was established in 1921 in Havana, Cuba.