Will Hollywood movie be in Brendan Ingle or Naseem Hamed's corner?

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Millions of cinema viewers will be drawn to the film centring on the lives and fall-outs of Sheffield boxing legends Naseem Hamed and the late Brendan Ingle.

But when Hollywood's credits roll at the end, will the production have taken a side behind either one of the sporting duo, whose world-conquering partnership ended in bitterness and squabbling?

Which scenes will be plucked for the full drama treatment from their real-life relationship? And what input, if any, has Naz had in the months of research that has gone into it?

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All we know is that the biopic is said to have been inspired by two of several well-researched books published decades ago.

The tone of the film entitled 'Giant' remains something known only to those on and around the set in Leeds.

Brendan's son Dominic believes that the plot focuses on his dad, rather than Naz...although it appears that no fewer than three actors will play the one-time featherweight king, two covering between the ages of seven and 12 upwards and then Amir El-Masry playing Hamed the adult.

Brendan is portrayed by Pierce Brosnan, an actor of such pedigree that you'd expect to see as completely central to the story. The main man.

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Interestingly, Pierce will have some personal experience to lean back on.

He, along with the likes of Donald Trump, was one of 12,000 fans who watched the Sheffielder box ringside in America 27 years ago!

It is impossible to get a handle on whether viewers will be invited to emotionally side with the Ingles or Naz.

The books used for research may yield a clue, though.

One is journalist Nick Pitt’s famous biography 'The Paddy & The Prince.'

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Producer/screenwriter Ray Panthaki has confirmed that Nick's "incredibly informative book had so much exclusive material, especially about Brendan, that we knew we needed to do all we could to acquire it".

Another tome, penned by Geoffrey Beattie, 'The Shadows of Boxing: Prince Naseem Hamed and Those He Left Behind,' was also a bountiful source for the filmmakers.

There are plenty of passages and accounts in both of those no-holds-barred reads that Hamed, now aged 50, will have found uncomfortable back then and will doubtless dispute to this day.

Last year, the Hollywood Reporter editorial outlet insisted the script would not shy away from the problems the two were eventually unable to resolve.

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The article quoted director Rowan Athale as discussing the "tempestuous relationship" between the pair.

So what cinematic elements from the novels should we expect to see on the big screen?

In Geoffrey's book, the former Crookes-based lecturer laid bare most of the issues the boxing duo were at odds with, from the wrought iron gates Brendan installed at his Wincobank home, the fighter's own high-rolling life of luxury, and Naz's behind-the-scenes battle to make weight ('running is for runners,' the athlete used to say).

Nick's book pinpoints the end of the Naz-Brendan relationship to a row in a stretch limousine in Los Angeles.

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The break-up had been coming for some time - Pitt suggesting that Naseem had reduced Brendan's earnings from 25 per cent of the fight purse, to 16.

That didn't go down well.

In the limo, Naz allegedly 'belittled' Brendan in front of promoter Frank Warren, and fighters Ryan Rhodes and Joe Calzaghe, according to the author.

That would seem a tempting scene to replicate in the movie.

Or they might set up a scene of Hamed's camp flying home in Concorde, when Naz said he made the final decision to part company.

Going back further in Naz's extraordinary history, the Sheffield boxing public will be curious to see if the film showcases the moment Brendan is supposed to have talent-spotted the boxer-to-be, for the first time.

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The Irishman claimed he'd spotted the lad single-handedly taking on three bullies in his Sheffield school playground...a spectacular plot opportunity but not an event that ever actually happened!

Then there was the time, Brendan engineered a part-time telecom job, in Sheffield, for his protégé...a far cry from millions he'd go on to earn. There is so much material to dramatize, or faithfully portray, it will be a matter of what to put on the so-called cutting room floor, rather than what to leave in.

Will one of the younger Naz-actors reproduce his nerveless debut as a skinny teenager at Mansfield Leisure Centre in 1992?

Then there was his dramatic KO win over Kevin Kelley at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1997 - an event featuring a Naz-hating gunman who was apparently pinned to the floor during Hamed's ring entrance.

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How could they leave out the night Hamed entered the ring on a flying carpet (Vuyani Bungu on March 11, 2000 at Olympia London?)

Another tempting sequence to transmit on screen will be the huge disparity in preparation between Naz and his eventual conqueror Marco Antonio Barrera in 2001 - Naz had six weeks in a luxury villa in Palm Springs while the rock-hard Mexican featherweight slogged it out at altitude in the mountains of Big Bear in California.

And, the biggest question of all, how far will the film go in painting a picture of the ego and self-belief which that drove Naz to such extraordinary heights?

Is the movie called Giant in recognition of the 5ft 4ins sportsman's towering self-esteem?

Perhaps, the content will be carefully balanced.

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Yet it will still have to touch on why Naz felt he had outgrown the Ingle fight factory and the apparent sense of "betrayal" he felt that his mentor had been cooperating with Mr Pitt's 'Paddy and the Prince' account, at the same time he was training him.

Naz said he'd wished he'd left the Wincobank gym well before he did, describing his relationship with the much-missed Brendan as "unhealthy" - even claiming that Brendan had wanted him to lose a fight against Wayne McCullough in Atlantic City in 1998.

Whichever way the film's tone is directed, it promises to be a Box Office knockout on both sides of the Atlantic.

Carl Luckock, a 50-year friend of the Ingle family sums up: "Brendan’s achievements in getting kids off the streets and teaching them the values of discipline and respect, not to mention the world champions he helped create, is well known.

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"He got an MBE in recognition of all he did but this is the first time his achievements have been chronicled in a high-profile film like this one. It’s been a long time in the pipeline and I’m glad it’s finally happening.

"Hopefully this production will do Brendan and Naz, his most famous ‘pupil,’ full justice. I can’t wait to see the film.”

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