Tyrene Manson’s role in a boxing movie nominated for an Academy Award goes beyond art imitating life.
It’s a warts-and-all examination of a young boxer’s life–Manson needed special permission to leave her New York prison work-release program to attend Sunday’s Oscar presentations at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Manson will be joined in the Oscar-night audience by fellow former New York Golden Gloves fighters George Walton and Noel Santiago and their coach, Harry Keitt. They are the four stars of “On the Ropes,” a nominee for best documentary feature.
Thus there is a chance for a boxing story to win a best-picture Oscar even though it won’t go to best actor-nominee Denzel Washington’s vehicle, “The Hurricane.”
The riveting reality throughout “On the Ropes,” inside and outside the New Bed-Sty Boxing Center in Brooklyn, includes Manson being sentenced to jail on the eve of her scheduled fight in the 1997 Golden Gloves. The audience gets to hear both sides of the police-raid story that led to her arrest and conviction on drug charges.
Letting the subjects speak for themselves with no other narration, directors Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen offer lessons about boxing’s allure and value to young people in dead-end circumstances and about the remarkable dignity and loyalty they maintain when drubbed by adversity.
Manson and Walton, undefeated in six professional bouts, are coming to Oscar night as “an item,” in Hollywood parlance. They are unofficially engaged.
Win or lose (and the documentary category’s top-notch contenders include “The Buena Vista Social Club”), “On the Ropes” will have a national TV premiere April 4 on The Learning Channel, at 8 p.m.
Closer to home: Finals of the 73rd Chicagoland Golden Gloves tournament are scheduled April 10-12 at St. Andrew’s Gym, 1658 W. Addison St. Bouts will begin at 7:30 each night.
One champion was determined Tuesday night. In the women’s 132-pound division, Amber Gideon won a decision over Amy Yuratovac.
Heavyweights galore: While waiting for the April 29 showdown between undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and challenger Michael Grant at Madison Square Garden, a few other big heavyweights are staying busy.
None is bigger or busier than Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, the Ukranian sibling strongmen who are beginning to gain attention as more than a novelty. Undefeated Vitali, with 27 victories, all by knockout, will try to derail the comeback of once-formidable Donovan “Razor” Ruddock on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” on April 1 from Berlin. Vitali, 28, stands 6-foot-8-inches.
Younger brother Wladimir, 24, measures 6-7. He’s 32-1 and was impressive in a first-round knockout of 288-pound Paea Wolfgramm (18-2). It was a rematch of their super-heavyweight amateur showdown. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Klitschko beat Wolfgramm for the gold medal.
Chicago heavyweight Danell Nicholson (36-3), whose bright prospects were derailed by Andrew Golota and Kirk Johnson a few years back, squares off against Terrance Lewis (25-6) March 30 in New York. They were on the same card Feb. 9 in Chicago, with Nicholson disposing of Tony La Rosa and Lewis losing a controversial fight against ex-champ Greg Page.
Two-way Teddy: ESPN2 has found a new way to take viewers behind the scenes at a boxing match. It could put Teddy Atlas, who does fight analysis alongside blow-by-blow announcer Bob Papa on “Friday Night Fights,” in an awkward position.
Atlas was a boxing trainer before he became an analyst. On the Friday card, he gets to be both. Cameras and microphones will follow Atlas from the locker room to the ring and back to the locker room in his role as a cornerman for light heavyweight Elviro Muriqui, 20, from Kosovo.
Win or lose, the camera team is supposed to follow Atlas, Muriqui and their team to the locker room to see how they handle the outcome of the scheduled six-rounder against Dan Sheehan.
Just jabs: Two Chicago fighters, heavyweight Golota and light-heavyweight Montell Griffin, are scheduled for a long trip to their next bouts, on an April 22 card in Guangzhou, China . . . . Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, is also scheduled on the China card. By the way, could the Ali-Frazier “Thrilla in Chinchilla” be getting nearer? After taking out Annie Brooks in the third round Sunday, Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, daughter of Joe Frazier, called out Laila.
More Top Picks Best Affordable Leg Massagers