With a mere 32 wins and 11 draws over his 19 year, 300 fight career, Peter Buckley isn’t a name you’re going to recognize as one of the greats. But you can’t lose 256 bouts without having some serious fighting spirit, and that will most likely be the focus of the upcoming biopic chronicling his life.
According to Variety, director George Tillman Jr. is stepping behind the camera to direct. Tillman, fresh off of the Dwayne Johnson vehicle Faster, broke on to the scene when he helmed Robert DeNiro and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Men of Honor. No stranger to biopics (Tillman also directed Notorious), Tillman should have no problem telling the story of the worst boxer of all-time.
The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be anything special about Buckley himself though, aside from his inability to give up. In an interview with Boxing Monthly, he comes across as a very level headed guy who doesn’t love to win, but loves to box. In ‘92 he screwed up his right shoulder really bad, but instead of taking time off for it to heal, he just kept taking the losses without being able to use his right arm at all. This is an underdog story, but not one with a winning outcome. Sure he wins his last fight ever, but he’s no Rocky Balboa, and I’m not sure how an audience will take to someone that non-impressive. We’ll keep you posted about where they take this once the script is written.
