TV One premieres “Ringside,” on Sunday, September 4 at 7:00 p.m. ET. This movie tells the story of a boxer on the rise who gets his chance at the big fight – to take on the current middleweight champion of the world. “Ringside” stars Tyler Lepley, Raney Branch, Allen Maldonado, Sevyn Streeter, Jackie Long and Tequan Richmond.
This original, made-for-television movie is not like the traditional boxing movies we have seen on screen over the years.
“What I wanted to do when I wrote this is I wanted to not do the typical, stereotypical “I came up in the mean streets” kind of boxer,” said director Russ Parr. “ Our lead character has a master’s degree, and there’s no reason for him to fight. So he does it for the love of the game, also to take care of his family, because they lost their parents at a young age. So he’s driven for that. In the world of boxing, this is kind of like the behind the scenes of stuff that goes on. And what I’ve tried to do is infuse some romance, some drama with his manager who has a gambling problem. This, not something that a lot of people in the boxing industry and the gambling industry really want you to talk about, considering our backdrop is like an MGM Grand. “
The main character is Jaxon Holley (Tyler Lepley) a boxer who gets his chance at the big fight as he struggles with his love life and family along the way. Think Rocky Balboa going up against Apollo Creed in terms of the two boxer’s standings in the industry. Jaxon has his career to think about but is also raising a family, younger brother who dreams of becoming a rapper and a sister who is trying to find her way but not sure how to get there.
Tequan Richmond, best known for his Daytime Emmy-nominated role on “General Hospital,” plays
TC, Jaxon’s young brother, an up and coming rap artist signed to his big brother’s label. Richmond shows off some impressive mic skills as TC is shown in the studio recording tracks and performing at parties.
Adding a family aspect to the drama, rather than a loner with little family, gives insight into Jaxon’s sense of community and more importantly family.
“I think the most important thing was humanizing these characters and delving in the relationship that he has with his little sister and how he feels like he needs to take care of everybody,” Parr said. “Just the stress of doing that and knowing he has to go against pound for pound the most vicious fighter in the world, I thought, made for a great backdrop for a great story. And the reason why it’s a great story is because I wrote it.”
For Parr, a radio host whose industry credits include, “Hear No Evil,” “The Last Stand” and “35 and Ticking,” doing a sports movie was a first.
“I haven’t done a sports-related movie, and to try to — you have parameters, said Parr. “Obviously, we’re not going to have a huge budget, but I think that the network gives us enough money to really make a credible film. And what’s exciting for me is people think that you can’t do it for X amount of dollars, and I like that challenge. You guys gave me $4,000 to do this movie…We shot it with a Land camera. No. No. I — the challenge to be able to do something like this, of this magnitude was really — it’s exciting. It’s easy for me to do a church movie or “35 and Ticking” and things like that that I’ve done. But to do a drama about boxing, it was very exciting for me and I think that we pulled it off. I really believe that we have
Lepley agrees. “I come from a boxing family,” the actor added. “Whether it’s you doing this or even TV One diving into this world, there’s not too many networks or, even for you for that matter, that are diving into the sports world. And not necessarily even sports, but something as intimate as boxing. You know what I mean? You play football. You play basketball. You play volleyball. You play tennis. You don’t play boxing. And it’s very intimate. It’s one on one. The stakes are very high. So [for] Russ Parr and TV One to actually throw their hat into the ring, no pun intended, but to actually throw their hat into the ring and do something like this, it’s monumental in a sense, because there are not too many networks that are actually doing that. “
Ringside premieres on TV One on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. ET with an encore broadcast immediately following at 9 p.m. ET
Viewers who missed the movie or want to see it again can catch an additional airing on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. ET
