The new documentary movie about the life of Ray Mancini debuted at the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. on Thursday night. Called “The Good Son”, it’s a documentary film based on the biography of the same name written by Mark Kriegel, previously the author of biographies on Pete Maravich and Joe Namath.
The premiere was hosted by Fight for Children, a Washington D.C. charity serving low-income children in the area, and the driving force behind the annual Fight Night events in the nation’s capital.
Photos: The Good Son Ray Mancini Documentary Premiere
The Good Son Documentary Preview Video
The documentary and the book are based on the concept of fathers and sons, and the connection and power that is there. Ray Mancini always wanted to be like his own father, Lenny, the original Boom Boom, and he promised him he would win the boxing championship he wasn’t able to after he had been badly wounded serving in World War II.
Of course, after rising to fame as one of the most popular fighters of the early 1980s, Mancini’s career and life were changed forever in the aftermath of his tragic fight against Duk Koo Kim, which resulted in Kim’s death in the days that followed.
“The Good Son” shows how Mancini reached that critical crossroads and what made him who he was, and follows the aftermath of that tragedy, up through an amazing meeting between Mancini and Kim’s son, Jiwan Kim. Jiwan was not yet born at the time of his father’s death. For Ray and for the Kim family, it was an amazing opportunity for some form of closure and healing for everyone.
The documentary follows the same course and chronology as the book, and involves input from all of the same people – from Mancini himself to many of his family members and friends, including his pastor, his sister, actors and friends Mickey Rourke and fellow Youngstown native Ed O’Neill, Sugar Ray Leonard and Bob Arum, and more.
It’s a touching examination of Mancini’s story, the headlines of which have been well known, but it’s the details that are displayed here and give life to the story which are unforgettable.
