Beverly Hills Boxer?
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Eddie Murphy has optioned the dramatic rights to Sugar Ray Robinson’s life story for a possible Paramount picture, said his manager, Bob Wachs. Still to be decided: whether Murphy will portray the “greatest boxer in history, pound for pound,” as Robinson was known.
Robinson was welterweight champ from 1946 to ’51 and won the middleweight title five times in the ‘50s.
The movie--being written by “Jewel of the Nile” scripters Lawrence Konners and Mark Rosenthal--would span Robinson’s life from his rise as a young boxer through his last championship fight.
Robinson, now 68, has been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years.
“We hope Eddie will play Sugar Ray,” said Robinson friend and spokesman Phil Rosenthal. “Millie (Robinson’s wife) wants the story told right.”
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