Former boxing manager‑turned‑filmmaker Eric Drath set out to investigate Luis Resto’s story and, at times, to exonerate him. During the documentary’s reporting Drath unearthed a police interview transcript in which Resto implicated trainer Panama Lewis and a man named Lee Black in taking the gloves into a bathroom before the bout. When Drath confronted Resto with that transcript while shooting, Resto admitted Lewis had taken the gloves and later acknowledged knowing during the fight — and beforehand — that his fists had been hardened with plaster. The film captures wrenching scenes of Resto traveling from the Bronx through Virginia, Miami and Nashville, confessing to Collins’s and his own family and repeatedly asking for forgiveness. It also documents the messy human drama of shifting blame — at one point Resto appears to back off his Lewis accusation and points to cornerman Artie Curley — and the lasting rifts between men, families and the boxing community.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2000s
Assault in the Ring: a documentary uncovering confessions, transcripts and shifting blame
Assault in the Ring (2008 documentary) / Eric Drath / 2000s
Former boxing manager‑turned‑filmmaker Eric Drath set out to investigate Luis Resto’s story and, at times, to exonerate him. During the documentary’s reporting Drath unearthed a police interview transcript in which Resto implicated trainer Panama Lewis and a man named Lee Black in taking the gloves into a bathroom before the bout. When Drath confronted Resto with that transcript while shooting, Resto admitted Lewis had taken the gloves and later acknowledged knowing during the fight — and beforehand — that his fists had been hardened with plaster. The film captures wrenching scenes of Resto traveling from the Bronx through Virginia, Miami and Nashville, confessing to Collins’s and his own family and repeatedly asking for forgiveness. It also documents the messy human drama of shifting blame — at one point Resto appears to back off his Lewis accusation and points to cornerman Artie Curley — and the lasting rifts between men, families and the boxing community.
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