Though he was small in stature ‘Prince’ Naseem Ahmed was an absolute giant in the boxing world throughout the 1990’s as a featherweight world champion and pretty much untouchable as much to do with his fancy footwork as his own devastating punch power that pretty much made him invincible.
Giant is a look at his rise from Yemeni immigrant cornershop owners in Sheffield to king of the ring but it’s a story that’s really told through the eyes of his trainer Brendan Ingle (Pierce Brosnan) a local gym owner who trained him for boxing dominance. Training him from a seven year old boy Ingle is something of a father figure to the boy (his own father is curiously absent throughout the entire film). Scripted by director Rowan Athale it covers the racism Ahmed faced and its Ingle who gets him to channel the contempt he’s on the receiving end into defeating his opponents in the ring.
Already a cocky as a seven year old, which to a certain degree is almost endearing in a child but by the time he is a professional boxer it had turned into full on arrogance that alienated him from many. Combined with his seemingly unstoppable title winning career in the ring made him great box office and something that promotor Frank Warren (Toby Stephens) latched on to and aggressively promoted.
Ahmed’s arrogance was something that Ingle actively encouraged though it would later be to the trainer’s detriment. Taunting and dismissive to his opponents and their fans it’s the notorious 1995 match against WBO defending champion Steve Robinson where Hamed had riled the Welsh fans so much that he had to be protected as he walked out to the ring of the Cardiff’s National Stadium in the pouring rain practically surfing on a sea of hatred where he would humiliate and demolish the champion.
Going through his landmark fights the story of Giant is one familiar to so many real life boxers namely the parting of ways from a their trainer usually resentful of the very person who gave him the skills to match their strength. Ahmed’s arrogance was his downfall and hardly helped by his entourage that inevitably included a couple of his brothers, one of which looks like a wannabe Liam Gallagher, that pours poison in his ear against Ingle at every opportunity.
Though its produced by Sylvester Stallone, Hamed was never the loveable icon that was Rocky and Amir El-Masry captures the boxers swaggering arrogance well but the script is a bit one note never looking behind the person for traces of humility or maybe even moments of self-doubt that might have humanized him but then perhaps what you see is what you get with the boxer. In a post Bond era Brosnan has appeared in a load of great and underrated films and this is another good role for him with the pair having an especially good, though imagined, scene towards the end where they reconcile. In reality they never did before Ingle passed away with only an end caption that outlines his, by now, too late gratitude to the trainer. After all that is seen previously it would have made Ahmed human after all that had come before and a reminder of the pointlessness of holding grudges and how stubborn many are to reconciliation.
Ahmed’s career and larger than life character lends itself well to the biopic format more so than say another boxing great such as the quiet and reserved Lennox Lewis (and a Chris Eubank biopic surely can’t be far off). And though Giant is not Raging Bull it’s far better than something like Rocky V and a reminder of one of Britain’s greatest boxers.
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Here’s the Giant trailer…….
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