The gloves are off

I beat Mike Tyson

In 2005, an unknown Irish boxer beat Mike Tyson, then he disappeared. Filmmaker Joshua Z Weinstein rediscovers boxer Kevin McBride, raising his children in a gritty Boston suburb. Kevin's body is deteriorating, yet he compulsively continues to fight.

The washed up boxer, clinging on to faded glory, looking for that one last chance. Kevin McBride had his “Rocky” or “The Fighter” moment, but it was almost a decade ago. A journeyman, McBride was selected to face Mike Tyson, the former “baddest man on the planet” as a patsy, an easy conquest on for the legend’s one last comeback.

Everyone expected McBride to go down, but he refused to be compliant. Beating Mike Tyson was a huge upset, and the archival footage provides the historical framing for this profile doc. McBride’s achievement does not console him however, it does not provide reassurance and pride at the end of a long career, it has instead fueled a insatiable hunger to recapture that glory.