Amazon Prime has released the first trailer for the upcoming biopic Prizefighter, aka Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher, featuring Russell Crowe. The film will tell the life story of Belcher, who became the youngest-ever boxing world champion in 1800. Crowe will play Belcher’s grandfather in the film.
Fans who have been missing Crowe’s action chops will get a good dose of the actor throwing down some serious fisticuffs in the trailer which shows the actor engaging in a series of the 18th and 19th-century bare-knuckle boxing matches that form the throughline of the film. Crowe’s character Jack Slack is the grandfather of Jem Belcher and an apparent influence on the boy who grows to become one of the greatest fighters of the 1800s.
The trailer is draped in the Georgian style of the era, and will doubtless entice a few non-boxing fans to see the film due to its Jane Austen-esque fashions and settings. Belcher, played by newcomer Matt Hookings, who also wrote the screenplay, helped move boxing from its primitive backroom brawl origins to the sport of today. He combined a raw talent for fighting with a sense of charm and grace.
Belcher’s career is nearly permanently derailed by an injury that leaves him blinded causing him to sink into desperation and alcoholism but he slowly makes a grueling recovery eventually competing in a fight to reclaim his championship.
Prizefighter will also star Ray Winstone as Belcher’s trainer Bill Warr, Marton Csokas, Jodhi May, Steven Berkoff, Julian Glover, and William Moseley.
Prizefighter will be available for streaming on Prime Video on July 22.
