When it comes to filmmaking, it doesn’t really matter what genre you commit to, except one – boxing.

The thing is with a boxing film, unlike any other, there are already two prime heavyweights that have won titles, that any other film about boxing will always be compared to, with those being Raging Bull and Rocky.

So it takes a special kind of chutzpah to step into the ring with a boxing story to tell, which is exactly what Australian director Daniel Graham has done, with his film about one of the earliest champions of boxing in England.

Being brought up in Bristol, without a father, was always going to be hard for Jem Belcher (Matt Hookings). Luckily for him however, he had a grandfather, Jack (Russell Crowe), who looked after Jem like his own son, teaching him about life, especially how to look after himself.

Jack knew a thing or two about that, seeing as he was a renowned bare-knuckle fighter, who passed his pugilist skills on to his grand-son.

It wasn’t until he met trainer Bill Warr (Ray Winstone) however, that his ability to fight was developed into something with a more professional sheen. So much so that Jem soon find himself winning fight after fight, to the point where it looked feasible to all those around him, that there was every chance he could soon be challenging for the greatest title of all – champion of All England.

So if you’re going to make a boxing film, you better have something unique. And in fairness, Graham has just that, as there aren’t that many period boxing films.

It’s also impressive that its star Hookings, not only also produced the film, but also wrote the script, proving himself to be quite the talented individual.

The bad news is, maybe he also should have had a crack at directing it too, as Graham doesn’t do that great a job. For instance, it looks poor from a technical point of view. The biggest issues are scenes indoors, that are poorly lit and shot, making the image for the most part looking like it was all shot in soft focus; it’s as if some of the corner man’s grease for the boxers was somehow smeared onto the lens.

This soft focus issue extends to other parts of the film too, making it really quite annoying in places.

The script has a few issues too, as doing the smallest research on Wikipedia regarding Belcher reveals that one of his fights in 1799 went on for 51 rounds! Now that’s the kind of detail that would certainly make a watchable scene, so it’s disappointing that it was missed.

That said, some of the performances are solid, as you would expect from the likes of Crowe and Winstone – although as far as the latter is concerned, there is a slight expectation, especially considering the sporting theme, to hear him utter the words “gamble responsibly” at some point.

There’s also a curious, scene-stealing performance – and a performance it surely is – by Steven Berkoff, whose scene has a striking resemblance to Brando in all of Apocalypse Now; it’s a striking piece of acting, but doesn’t really fit in with the feel of the rest of the film.

It also has a standard training montage, but it has echoes of The Karate Kid more than Rocky.

Overall it has a few good rounds in it, but just doesn’t have enough in the tank for a knockout finish.