Date: 20th June 2022

David Oyelowo to star as Sugar Ray Robinson in boxing biopic.


British actor David Oyelowo is set to play American boxing legend, Sugar Ray Robinson in an upcoming biopic entitled Sweet Thunder.

The star of The Midnight Sky is in the process of writing the film Sweet Thunder, which he will also produce and star in, and tells the Times newspaper that it has proved a tireless passion project: "Selma took seven years; I think we’re almost ten with Sweet Thunder."

Often regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, he was renowned for his classy and flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring and is often considered the originator of athlete "entourages" in modern sports. He engaged in 201 total fights over his career, winning 174 of them and winning with a knockout in over half his total fights.

The actor will next be seen on the big screen in the film See How They Run, a murder-mystery set in 1950s London, co-starring Saoirse Ronan and Ruth Wilson.

He is also starring as Bass Reeves, the title role in a series about the first black deputy US marshal west of the Mississippi River. Paramount+ have created the show as a spin-off from their 1883 series.

Source: Press Release