“Before Tyson, there was Liston”.

That’s the tagline for the Robert Townsend directed biopic of heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston which according to The Hollywood Reporter, will star Ving Rhames in the lead role.

The movie titled Phantom Punch, refers to a famous punch Liston received at the height of his career from little known boxer Cassius Clay which led to the demise of the World Champion’s career. It stunned the boxing world as Liston had seldom been knocked to the floor before, and the two minute knockout from Clay was thought by many to be a fix. Those doubts were soon soured when Clay of course went on to become Muhammad Ali.

The biopic will focus on his time in prison and his ties to the mob, but the story’s main focus will be the rise of Liston who only fighted because he wanted to respect…. and he became the world champion.

Rhames looks a bit like Liston, though he will have to tone down somewhat for this role.

This could be the biggest role in Rhames’ career and Townsend is said to have chased Rhames down for the role, claiming he ‘was born for the part’ and ‘had played the character before on so many different levels’.

This could be really great and it’s nice to see Rhames be really tested here instead of just shooting zombies.

There’s lots of boxing biopics on the horizon but I like the sound of this one. Let’s hope it gets a decent theatrical release whenever it gets made.