Assault in the Ring

Assault in the Ring (also called Cornered: A Life Caught in the Ring) is about a boxing match that took place in 1983.  When the fight was over one of the boxers, Luis Resto, and his team were accused of taking padding out of the gloves which would make his punches more potent because there’s less standing in the way between his opponent’s face and Resto’s bare knuckles.  It’s a pretty nasty fight to watch but Jesus it even sounds horrible.

On that night Resto was fighting Billy Collins Jr. who was undefeated.  Resto was seen as a stepping stone in the boxing community and not a real contender.  This match was for Collins’ career and not Resto’s.  But Resto kept throwing punches and beating the shit out of Collins’ face until it became swollen beyond recognition.  As soon as the match was over Collins’ father (also his trainer) asked that Resto’s gloves be checked out and they were found to have 50% of the padding taken out.  Resto and his trainer, Panama Lewis, were sent to jail but that’s not where the story ends.  Collins suffered a torn iris during the fight and never fought again.  He fell into an alcohol fueled depression and died in a car wreck about a year after the infamous 1983 fight.

24 years later Eric Drath, boxing manager turned filmmaker, directs, narrates and interviews Resto and everyone else that was involved in the incident.  Resto lives in the Bronx and has a dark weather-beaten face.  He looks more like a junkie (and he was) than a boxer with his mangled teeth, rat tail haircut and veiny arms.  For years he lived underneath a boxing gym with no windows and garbage everywhere.  He also carries around a racquet ball that he bounces like Rocky.  But Resto also has a heart of gold as he reveals more and more as the documentary goes on.  You see he’s been denying for years any knowledge of what happened during the 1983 bout but Drath eventually helps him come to terms with it.  He feels haunted by what happened and thinks about the fight every day of his life.  He ends up going on a journey to tell everyone he’s sorry and visits his ex-wife, his sons, Collins’ widow and his former trainer Panama.

This is where things get interesting because Panama is the one who allegedly took the padding out of the gloves.  He got his license permanently revoked just like Resto but he was able to still earn a living training boxers outside the ring.  And you should see him now because he looks like a hugely successful rapper with a ton of bling, a gold grill, he barely ever takes off his sunglasses and he wears shiny new color coordinated hats, clothes and shoes.  It’s such a contrast compared to Resto who’s wearing a wife beater and shorts.  But you can tell that Panama is a scumbag and that he’s hiding something because this wasn’t the first time he was involved in a scandal.  Before the 1983 fight there was some controversy about him putting something in another one of his boxer’s water bottle to help him win.  He was never charged with anything but there’s some incriminating video of it that certainly doesn’t look good.  Anyway Resto confronts Panama about the 1983 fight twice and the documentary builds towards the second confrontation. 

You really get sucked into Resto’s story and you feel sorry for him because he’s paid for that fight every day of his life while the guy that (probably) did the dirty deed is making out just fine.  This story involves such great characters like the reserved Resto, the flamboyant Panama and the innocent bystander Collins.  It’s also cool to see Resto develop and become a more open and devoted person as he renews his relationships with his family.  This was a really great doc guys that I definitely recommend even if you’re not into boxing because it’s just an interesting story.