One of my all time favorites.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I saw this movie, and wondered why it was not released in theatres. It is a quite good movie, that is very thought provoking especially, concerning the circumstance surrounding Sonny Liston's death. The actor named Ving Rhames does a very good job and is fantastic in it. It amazes me, and I do not understand why the other reviewers are so negative, but if you like boxing and are a boxing history fan, this is a must see..... I thoroughly enjoyed it... And if you're a boxing fan, you probably will too... PS - Robert Townsend is a fine talent as both an actor and director... So watch it and don't be fooled by any negative reviews... :)

Oh how the Mighty have Fallen. Not Sonny Liston but Director Robert Townsend. The Once Promising Director who Helmed this Biopic of Heavyweight Champion Liston is Either Out of His Depth or couldn't Pull this Off and it seems like there wasn't much Effort and the Whole Thing Looks Cheap, Undeveloped, and Haphazard.The Low-Budget is No Excuse. Much can be Made for Very Little with some Creativity and Depth of Concern. The Movie is so Muddled and Amateurish at Times that it is Knocked Down In the Opening and Never gets up. The Highlights and Lowlights of the Life of Sonny Liston are Never Explored with Compelling Cinema. It is Flat and Uninteresting and Considering the Enigmatic Liston's Private Life and His Powerful Presence in the Ring it is Mysteriously Boring.The Phantom Punch that Cassius Clay (Ali) Threw in Their Second Fight, one of the most Controversial Knockouts in Boxing History and Ironically the Title of the Film is Hardly Examined, Explored, or for that Matter it is Glossed Over for some Unknown Reason. The Ending of Liston's Life is also Mysterious and the Mystery here is that, again it is so Rushed that it seems a Featherweight is at the Controls.The Film isn't Awful, it is just a Mess. Considering the Material Available it is the Greatest of Concern as to why this Thing Turned Out so Ineffective. it should have been a No Brainer and it turns out to be a Non-Contender.

When I saw Robert Townsend directing and so many actors I respect like Ving Rhames, David Proval and Stacey Dash I really expected a lot more out of this film. It showed absolute zero of the ferociousness of Sonny Liston, the way he paralyzed Floyd Patterson with fear (in real life Patterson brought a fake beard and glasses to both Liston fights so he could sneak out unnoticed after getting his inevitable beatings) and it showed absolute zero of the build up to the first Cassius Clay fight. In real life Liston slapped Clay in a casino, and Clay famously left a bear trap on Liston's front steps. Sonny Liston was one of the most enigmatic figures of the 20th century, but this film shows none of that. It's basically: convict gets paroled, boxes, deals with bigotry and eventually...well, honestly, I turned it off during the first Clay fight, so I don't know how the film goes after that. This looked to me like a payday for everyone involved. I hate to post a bad review, especially after all the years that I've enjoyed Robert Townsend's work, but this movie was a real stinkeroo! You look at a film like Raging Bull where they were able to make Jake LaMotta sympathetic, even while showing his violent side. None of that is done in Phantom Punch. It's like making a film on Mike Tyson and simply showing that he raised pigeons while he wasn't boxing.

This film isn't just swagger, or an imitation of Sonny Liston. This is a deep, sensitive, poignant, and romantic story about one of the greatest public figures of the twentieth century. A conglomerate of great acting, great direction, and a great story that needed to be told. When I was young I use to hear Patterson and Sonny Liston's name all the way till I became an adult. Yet I never knew who they were outside of being famous boxers back in the day. This film is socially important because it raises up one of the most notable and under-appreciated figures of the twentieth century, Sonny Liston. His fights with Patterson is also in the film so I learned a lot here. The fights are not rocky-type or "entertaining" but REAL. Never long and drawn out but super exciting for someone not into boxing, like me. My mother & I really got into this movie than researched after, and boy were the males in out family surprised. They didn't show a younger Liston but instead had Ving play the entire role from his discovery by the Catholic priest in prison to Liston's champ days, and finally his passing. Sadly, fate forced him to have ties to the mob. It was boxing or a life in prison. And a lot of shady people were attached to boxing back than. Some just weren't so lucky. Surprisingly, the movie was so good & went by so fast, no one even noticed. But I am so glad I didn't pay attention to any neg reviews in here! This movie gives us all an important lesson. That we can be anything we want! This certainly is a movie worth seeing.