Never Be A Punching Bag For Nobody (2023)

(0) based on 0 votes
The film weaves together three stories: colorful boxing coach and ex-drill sergeant Sal Bartolo Jr., son of a renowned 1940s East Boston boxing champ; Naomi Yang herself, learning boxing from trainer Bartolo and reexamining some of her own family’s disturbing history; and schoolteacher Mary Ellen Welch, who in the 1960s mobilized a group of neighborhood women against encroachment from Logan airport, fighting back against an indifferent city government. None of these protagonists are destined to win the Big Fight, but all offer inspiration to anyone determined to stand up for themselves and hold their ground.
Directors
Release Date
Apr 26, 2023
Runtime
01h 05m
Genre
Available in streaming on

The film weaves together three stories: colorful boxing coach and ex-drill sergeant Sal Bartolo Jr., son of a renowned 1940s East Boston boxing champ; Naomi Yang herself, learning boxing from trainer Bartolo and reexamining some of her own family’s disturbing history; and schoolteacher Mary Ellen Welch, who in the 1960s mobilized a group of neighborhood women against encroachment from Logan airport, fighting back against an indifferent city government. None of these protagonists are destined to win the Big Fight, but all offer inspiration to anyone determined to stand up for themselves and hold their ground.

Movies like Never Be A Punching Bag For Nobody

Boxing Libreville

Libreville, Gabon, Africa, 2016. Christ Olsen Mickala, a young boxer, trains tirelessly during the day and earns his living by night as a bouncer in nightclubs. At the same time, the combat of the presidential elections is taking place. As Christ hopes to succeed, a whole country hopes that a democratic transition finally triumphs.
Search similar movies
8.3
Boxing+Libreville
Boxing Libreville

2018

Search similar movies
Kick Like Tayla

Kick Like Tayla shares a raw and unfiltered look into the life of AFLW player and boxing champion, Tayla Harris, as she confronts public and personal challenges, and channels her platform for good.
Search similar movies
5.0
Kick+Like+Tayla
Kick Like Tayla

2022

Search similar movies
No Más

A look at the November 1980 re-match between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran and how two infamous words haunt both.
Search similar movies
6.5
No+M%C3%A1s
Avgörandet Floyd - Ingo

"Final Decision Floyd vs. Ingo" - Depicts the prelude to and the match between Ingemar Johansson and Floyd Patterson at Convention Hall in Miami Beach on March 13, 1961. Johansson failed to take back the heavyweight championship title.
Search similar movies
Avg%C3%B6randet+Floyd+-+Ingo
Avgörandet Floyd - Ingo

1961

Search similar movies
Devin Haney vs. Jorge Linares

Devin Haney vs. Jorge Linares was a professional boxing match contested between WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, and former three-division world champion Jorge Linares. The bout took place at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 29, 2021, with Haney's WBC title on the line.
Search similar movies
Devin+Haney+vs.+Jorge+Linares
Devin Haney vs. Jorge Linares

2021

Search similar movies
KSI: Can't Lose

Millions tuned in to see KSI beat Joe Weller in the biggest amateur boxing match of all time. But what didn't they see? The blood, sweat and determination underpinning KSI's intense training regime and a revealing look at his world off camera. This is the exclusive and never before seen story of Knowledge, Strength and Integrity, and how JJ, with 18m YouTube subscribers, went from actor to athlete.
Search similar movies
7.0
KSI%3A+Can%27t+Lose
KSI: Can't Lose

2018

Search similar movies
Floyd "Money" Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather is the man with the perfect boxing record. His career has spanned more than two decades. His nickname is Floyd 'Money' Mayweather for a reason. His bouts make millions upon millions of dollars in PPV revenue. From a simple start in life in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to headlining two of the biggest PPV events of all time. Floyd has proven time and time again that he is money. Whether it's taking on one of the best boxers in the world, Manny Pacquiao or fighting the king of the Octagon, Conor McGregor, Floyd 'Money' Mayweather puts on a show no matter the opponent.
Search similar movies
Floyd+%27Money%27+Mayweather
Floyd "Money" Mayweather

2020

Search similar movies
Med krut i nävarna

"Powerful Fists" - Depicts Swedish heavy-weight professional boxer Ingemar Johansson's career 1952 to 1963.
Search similar movies
Med+krut+i+n%C3%A4varna
Med krut i nävarna

1969

Search similar movies
I Am Joe Frazier

A feature documentary celebrating the rise of a humble but driven boxing perfectionist who triumphantly emerged from Muhammad Ali's long shadow to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World and redefined greatness in his own image.
Search similar movies
I+Am+Joe+Frazier
I Am Joe Frazier

2025

Search similar movies
Team Khan

Fly-on-the-wall documentary about professional boxer Amir Khan. Filmed over two years, it follows Amir and his team in their quest to fight the best boxer on the planet, the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Search similar movies
9.0
Team+Khan
Manny

From abject poverty to becoming a ten-time boxing world champion, congressman, and international icon, Manny Pacquiao is the true definition of a Cinderella story. In the Philippines, he first entered the ring as a sixteen-year-old weighing ninety-eight pounds with the goal of earning money to feed his family. Now, almost twenty years later, when he fights, the country of 100 million people comes to a complete standstill to watch. Regarded for his ability to bring people together, Pacquiao entered the political arena in 2010. As history’s first boxing congressman, Pacquiao now fights for his people both inside and outside of the ring. Now at the height of his career, he is faced with maneuvering an unscrupulous sport while maintaining his political duties. The question now is, what bridge is too far for Manny Pacquiao to cross?
Search similar movies
6.4
Manny
When We Were Kings

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
Search similar movies
7.6
When+We+Were+Kings
When We Were Kings

1996

Search similar movies
Evander Holyfield vs Buster Douglas

A professional boxing match contested on October 25, 1990, for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships. The bout took place at the Mirage in Paradise, Nevada, USA and saw Douglas making the first defense of the titles he won from Mike Tyson in February 1990.
Search similar movies
Evander+Holyfield+vs+Buster+Douglas
Evander Holyfield vs Buster Douglas

1990

Search similar movies
Day of the Fight

'Day of the Fight' shows Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier during the height of his career, on the day of a fight with black middleweight Bobby James, which took place on April 17, 1950.
Search similar movies
5.7
Day+of+the+Fight
Day of the Fight

1951

Search similar movies
Spirit of the Kata

Five women are black belts in karate, which to them is more than self-defense, it's a philosophy for life.
Search similar movies
Spirit+of+the+Kata
Spirit of the Kata

1985

Search similar movies
Beauty Bites Beast

Beauty Bites Beast aims to 'normalize' the idea of women's self-defense - and by extension, kids' self-defense - as a human need and right.
Search similar movies
10.0
Beauty+Bites+Beast
Beauty Bites Beast

2016

Search similar movies
Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson

Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson is a 1993 film made by acclaimed American documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Though Tyson was in jail serving a sentence for rape, Kopple used existing interviews with the boxer, as well as her own extensive interviews with those closest to Tyson, to explore the man's history. The film traces Tyson's story from his troubled and tumultuous upbringing, through his rapid ascendancy in the ranks of the boxing world and his subsequent struggle with the trappings of fame. Fallen Champ earned Barbara Kopple a Directors Guild of America award as Best Documentary Director of 1993.
Search similar movies
8.0
Fallen+Champ%3A+The+Untold+Story+of+Mike+Tyson
Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson

1993

Search similar movies
Muhammad and Larry

In October of 1980 Muhammad Ali was preparing to fight for an unprecedented fourth heavyweight title against his friend and former sparring partner Larry Holmes. To say that the great Ali was in the twilight of his career would be generous; most of his admiring fans, friends and fight scribes considered his bravado delusional. What was left for him to prove? In the weeks of training before the fight, documentarians Albert and David Maysles took an intimate look at Ali trying to convince the world and perhaps himself, that he was still “The Greatest.” At the same time, they documented the mild-mannered and undervalued champion Holmes as he confidently prepared to put an end to the career of a man for whom he had an abiding and deep affection
Search similar movies
6.5
Muhammad+and+Larry
Muhammad and Larry

2009

Search similar movies
One Night in Vegas

On the evening of Sept. 7, 1996, Mike Tyson, the WBC heavyweight champion, attempted to take Bruce Seldon’s WBA title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this point in his career, Tyson’s fights had become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, where the ever present hype of the professional boxing scene would come face to face with the worlds of big business, Hollywood, and hip hop. Sitting ringside was controversial rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur and Tyson were friends, a feeling of kinship linked them as each rose to stardom from poverty only to be thrown in prison. Following Tyson’s victory, Shakur and “Iron Mike” were to celebrate at an after party, but the rap star never arrived. Shakur was brutally gunned down later that night, and the scene in Las Vegas quickly turned from would-be celebratory revelry to ill fated and inopportune tragedy.
Search similar movies
6.3
One+Night+in+Vegas
One Night in Vegas

2010

Search similar movies
Hatton

A definitive portrait of a unique, working-class hero, one of the world’s most beloved boxers - Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton. This documentary, with incredible access to Ricky and unseen archive footage, charts his journey from the Hattersley estate near Manchester to headlining on the strip in Las Vegas is an emotional insight into a brilliant but flawed sporting hero. Raw and compelling, the documentary showcases this cautionary tale and inspirational story of a man forced to navigate a path through fragile relationships and broken dreams as he attempts to make sense of a life that appeared destined for a happy ending.
Search similar movies
8.0
Hatton
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

The story of Jack Johnson, the first African American Heavyweight boxing champion.
Search similar movies
7.1
Unforgivable+Blackness%3A+The+Rise+and+Fall+of+Jack+Johnson
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

2004

Search similar movies
Men Boxing

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.
Search similar movies
4.1
Men+Boxing
Men Boxing

1970

Search similar movies
Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman

Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, billed as "The Battle of the Ages", was a professional boxing match contested on April 19, 1991 for the WBA, WBC, IBF and Lineal Heavyweight championships.
Search similar movies
Evander+Holyfield+vs.+George+Foreman
Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman

1991

Search similar movies
Untold: Deal with the Devil

Christy Martin broke boundaries and noses as she rose in the boxing world, but her public persona belied personal demons, abuse and a threat on her life.
Search similar movies
6.9
Untold%3A+Deal+with+the+Devil
Untold: Deal with the Devil

2021

Search similar movies
Katie

Follows Irish champion boxer Katie Taylor as she tries to rekindle her career after a year of setbacks.
Search similar movies
5.8
Katie
42 to 1

On February 11, 1990, while the odds were technically 42 to 1, it was the impossible that happened in a boxing ring in Tokyo, Japan, when James "Buster" Douglas defeated Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship of the world. Fallen from a top-10 heavyweight contender in the mid-1980s to a stepping-stone for the champion, Douglas was lightly regarded. But a series of extraordinary circumstances would lead to an unimaginable result.
Search similar movies
7.0
42+to+1
The Record Breakers

Welcome to a hard driving video about the biggest winners of all, the athletes and teams who broken records in their sports.
Search similar movies
The+Record+Breakers
The Record Breakers

1991

Search similar movies
40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic

Sylvester Stallone and John G. Avildsen narrate behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "Rocky" to mark the film's 40th anniversary.
Search similar movies
7.6
40+Years+of+Rocky%3A+The+Birth+of+a+Classic
40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic

2020

Search similar movies
Calzaghe: The Story

Joe Calzaghe is, without question, the greatest British fighter, Ever. And this is his exclusive, all action story of how he fought his way to the top. Now unbeaten in 45 fights Joe has won WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF super middleweight titles during his epic 16 year unblemished career...and beaten absolutely everybody who has been put is his way! This is the Calzaghe Story which brings together his greatest World Title fights along with the exclusive, untold story from two boxing insiders, Frank Warren, and highly respected boxing journalist Colin Hart. These two men, with supreme knowledge of the boxing game, recount their stories about Joe the boxer, the world beater.
Search similar movies
Calzaghe%3A+The+Story
Calzaghe: The Story

2008

Search similar movies
Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana

Could this be 'Fight of The Year'? The reputation of Amir Khan was enhanced in a brutal battle for supremacy in a thrilling, successful third defence of his World Boxing Association light-welterweight belt against knockout specialist Marcos Maidana. The plan was to hit and run. Yet not only did Khan stand and trade with Maidana in a ferocious fight, he survived a brutal onslaught and a near-knockout in the 10th round to dispel the myth that he is “chinny” at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Khan's vulnerability, yet desire to fight, make him compelling viewing.
Search similar movies
Amir+Khan+vs.+Marcos+Maidana
Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana

2010

Search similar movies
Butterfly

Eighteen year old Irma Testa is Italy’s first female boxer to make it to the Olympics. It’s a remarkable outcome for a girl raised in one of the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods of Naples.. The more Irma succeeds though, the more fragile she becomes. After a crushing defeat at the Games in Rio, she questions whether boxing is her future. She wants to chart her own path, but must first take a hard look at her personal life which she has avoided for so long.
Search similar movies
6.8
Butterfly
David Haye vs. Tony Bellew

David Haye and Tony Bellew clash in a Heavyweight blockbuster at The O2 in London.
Search similar movies
David+Haye+vs.+Tony+Bellew
David Haye vs. Tony Bellew

2017

Search similar movies
Countdown: Taylor vs. Serrano

Two elite boxers, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, prepare for their epic trilogy finale, a live-streamed match on Netflix July 11. Uma Thurman narrates their rigorous training journey.
Search similar movies
7.4
Countdown%3A+Taylor+vs.+Serrano
Countdown: Taylor vs. Serrano

2025

Search similar movies
Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton

Three-division champ and current world featherweight titleholder Leo "El Terremoto" Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) puts his belt on the line against one of the UK's toughest fighters: undefeated Irishman Carl "The Jackal" Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs). Plus, undefeated former two-division champ Mikey Garcia (34-0, 28 KOs) returns to the ring against Elio Rojas (24-2, 14 KOs) and junior middleweights Tony Harrison (23-1, 19 KOs) and Sergey Rabchenko (27-1, 20 KOs) face off in a 12-round eliminator. Live from Brooklyn's Barclays Center.
Search similar movies
Leo+Santa+Cruz+vs.+Carl+Frampton
Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton

2016

Search similar movies
Golden Girl

Golden Girl is a film about the forces at play around Frida Wallberg, WBC world champion. It's about putting it all on the line in a deadly sport. About rosy dreams that crash into a nothing less than brutal reality.
Search similar movies
5.7
Golden+Girl
Golden Girl

2016

Search similar movies
The Real Rocky

Chuck Wepner is a liquor salesman from Bayonne, N.J., who drives a Cadillac with “Champ” vanity plates. A former New Jersey State Heavyweight Boxing Champion, he took abuse from Sonny Liston, got his nose broken by Muhammad Ali, and inspired Sylvester Stallone to write “Rocky” which won three Academy Awards. Wepner was left out of the “Rocky” glory, and his career took turn after strange turn as he worked to stay in the spotlight: he went on to fight Andre the Giant as “The Assassin” and boxed a 900 pound bear. Twice.
Search similar movies
5.9
The+Real+Rocky
The Real Rocky

2011

Search similar movies
Counterpunch

As boxing's popularity wanes, three fighters at different stages of their career make sacrifices to pursue their dreams of becoming champions.
Search similar movies
6.6
Counterpunch
Counterpunch

2017

Search similar movies
Fighting Back: The Michael Watson Story

Little did Michael Watson know that when he stepped into the ring on 21 September 1991 to fight Chris Eubank for the World Boxing Organisation Super Middleweight title, it was a fight that would nearly cost him his life. Ten years on, Fighting Back: The Michael Watson Story, tells of his remarkable recovery from the brink of death and features his first public meeting with Eubank.
Search similar movies
Fighting+Back%3A+The+Michael+Watson+Story
Fighting Back: The Michael Watson Story

2001

Search similar movies
Frank Bruno: Gloves Off

“Gloves Off” explores the in’s and outs of Franks boxing career and includes many interviews with Frank himself, the people in his ring and some competitors.
Search similar movies
Frank+Bruno%3A+Gloves+Off
Frank Bruno: Gloves Off

2005

Search similar movies
Tommy "The Duke" Morrison

Documentary on heavyweight champion boxer Tommy Morrison; his life and career. Tommy Morrison was an American heavyweight boxer and a former World Boxing Organization champion. He lost only three out of a total of 52 professional fights.
Search similar movies
Tommy+%27The+Duke%27+Morrison
Tommy "The Duke" Morrison

1990

Search similar movies