Gladiator (1992 film)

Gladiator is a 1992 American sports drama film directed by Rowdy Herrington, and starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Marshall, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Loggia. The film tells the story of two teenagers trapped in the world of illegal underground boxing. One is fighting to pay off gambling debts accumulated by his father. The second is fighting for the money to get out of the ghetto. While being exploited by a boxing promoter, the two teens become friends.

Tommy enjoys a great deal of success and develops a friendship with Romano and Abraham Lincoln Haines, two fellow fighters. However, he continues to be harassed by gang members, and discovers that two of them, Black Death and Short Cut are boxers who fight dirty, using elbows, kicks, knees, and low blows, and counting on the crooked refs to overlook the clear violations. Tommy defeats Black Death in the ring, but Short Cut hides a fluid in his gloves, which he uses to blind Romano during a match. Unable to defend himself, Romano is brutally beaten in the ring and is declared brain dead by the doctors. Short Cut later tries the same trick on Tommy, but Riley has learned to fight dirty, and still defeats Short Cut despite being unable to see.Meanwhile, Lincoln shows signs of possible brain damage and is told to quit fighting for at least 60 days or else suffer permanent brain damage. Despite this, Horn arranges a match between Lincoln and Tommy. Afraid of killing Lincoln, Tommy takes a beating until the two are unwilling to continue the match. In revenge, Horn, a former boxer who lost only one fight, punches Lincoln severely enough to knock him out of the ring. ........

Source: Wikipedia