Last week we talked about Troy's 19th century boxing champions Ryan, Morrissey, and Heehan. The Troy area continued throughout the 20th century to be an important place in boxing circles.

Few know that boxer Mike Tyson had his first 15 bouts under the leadership of Troy's Uncle Sam Boxing Club with Bob and Lorraine Miller. The records show that his first Troy bout was on February 16, 1986 with Jesse Ferguson which Tyson won with a KO in the 6th round. He also fought in Troy again on June 28 with William Hosea, (KO in the 1st). Tyson went on to become the youngest heavyweight in history.

The Troy area had other fighters. Remember Dave Zyglewicz (Ziggy) who fought Joe Frazier on April 22, 1969 in Houston, Texas (lost in first round). How many remember Ted Bailey's outdoor boxing ring in South Troy? The boxing tradition continues in our area more recently with Danny Ferris, Danny Chapman, and Timmy Lavalley.

While boxing started out as a male sport, it didn't take women long to get into the ring. In fact, female boxing goes back to the 1720's in London where punching and the use of feet and knees to all parts of the body was allowed (not excluding mauling, scratching, or throwing the opponent either).

In 1876 it appears that Nell Saunders and Rose Harland duked it out at the Hills Theater in New York City for a silver butter dish. When boxing was introduced into the Olympics in 1904, women boxing was a displayed event and by the 1920's boxing was part of a physical fitness program for women in Boston.

So it is not surprising that with Troy's boxing history, and the twist of female boxing, that someday someone would make a movie about a women boxer - from South Troy!

Eugene Jarecki, who manages Think Tank, a New York City-based company specializing in creative work for film, television, and multimedia products, is doing just that. His new movie, about a women boxer from Troy is called "The Opponent," and will be released in June of this year.

Jarecki, an independent film director of both dramatic and documentary subjects recently completed a PBS special on the 'Gli Gli' project, a canoe "built from ancient design using existing technology in Dominica and its symbolic journey to reunite Island Caribs with their ancestral and tribal homeland sailing from Carib Territory in Dominica down the island chain, through the Orinoco Delta and into the river systems of North West Guyana." It will air shortly.

Eugene was trained at Princeton and New York Universities. As a writer, director, and producer of dramatic films, music videos, documentaries, commercials, and stage productions, Jarecki has been recognized with honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Sundance Institute, the Aspen Film Festival, and the New York Independent Feature Project.

Editing of the film is being done by Simon Barker, on loan from the BBC, and whose credits include an eye opening film on Mt. Everest.

For Eugene, boxing is not something he learned about from the movies. As a young lad, one of the kids he hung around with was - you guessed it - Iron Mike Tyson.

He also fell in love with Troy and knew that this historic city would become the backdrop for his movie. As he told me, he loves Troy because of the wisdom demonstrated from a population that lived in a city that has gone through a rise (industrial age) and fall (the 70's urban removal period) - just like a boxer's career.

One day, Eugene stopped at the South End Tavern and asked about boxers in the area. They gave him Ray White's name. Ray is a former police sergeant in Troy and professional boxer. While on the force, Ray trained in the same gym - the 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach - with legends Roberto Duran, Wilfredo Banetas, Muhammad Ali, and also met Mo Fletcher, the trainer of the gym and the famous Angelo Dundee. Chris Dundee, his brother, ran the gym. Ken Norton and Don King stopped in, as did others. This gym was more like a living boxing hall of fame.

Ray took Eugene around Troy and he was impressed with Ted Bailey's outdoor ring that was right in front of the railroad tracks on the west side of Burden Ave, just north of the South End Tavern. The ring was just taken down about a year ago.

Eugene also liked the stories he heard. Ray himself trained in the Catskills, and knew Tyson when he was training at age 15 with Cus D'Amato. D'Amato trained world champions Floyd Pattison (who became boxing commissioner for while), and Jose Torez, who is in the movie playing the ring announcer. Eugene also was impressed with the fact that Bob and Lorraine Miller of the Uncle Same Boxing Club kept lots of kids off the streets. There was no charge for kids to go in and train. It kept them busy and out of trouble in a neighborhood that was rough and tumble. They had an open door policy. Keep an eye on that human aspect in the movie.

Without giving any of the plot away, the story is about a young women (Erika Eleniak, with Harry O'Riley and Diego Lopez ) in Troy who finds herself by becoming a boxer. A love story? Yes.

While most of the movie is shot near New York, due to budget constraints, there are enough references about Troy to make any Trojan happy. There are references to the "South End" Boxing Club - really the Uncle Sam. There's a discussion about the real Uncle Sam being from Troy during a limo ride (that belongs to Ray). Yes, there are shots in the 'Collar City' as well. There is a scene going into the "ladies entrance" of the South End Tavern.

Eugene would love to premier the movie in Troy. Too bad Proctor's isn't open? Regardless, Eugene Jarecki and "The Opponent" makes one thing perfectly clear in the movie. As in real life, it's "South Troy Against The World!"