Lights, Camera, Come Out Punching!

1999

The Hurricane

Denzel Washington

Washington (right) at his stoical best in a dutifully earnest, deeply sentimental, not-exactly-true story of 1960s middleweight contender Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, who spent 18 years in prison on a phony murder rap.

2001

Ali

Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight

Weighing in at close to three hours, Michael Mann's handsomely mounted bio-epic may not exactly float like a butterfly, but it recreates the high points of Ali's most dramatic decade with stunning verisimilitude.

2004

Million Dollar Baby