50 Cent Takes Boxing Passion To Next Round

Written By S. Samuel

G-Unit leader 50 Cent put his love for boxing on full display last night (June 19) in Hollywood at the Los Angeles Film Festival for the premiere of his new Tapia documentary.

50 Cent
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According to reports, boxing icon Sugar Ray Leonard and others came through to show Fif some support.

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson stepped into his new role as documentary producer at the premiere of Tapia at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Wednesday night. The film focuses around the life of late boxer Johnny Tapia and features interviews with Mike Tyson and Tapia’s family. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard showed up to lend his support to the hip-hop mogul. (Rap-Up)

Buzz behind Fif’s involvement and the project’s content surfaced online earlier this month.

Rapper-actor-producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is assuming a new role — documentary producer, partnering with Lou DiBella to acquire rights to “Tapia.” DiBella’s newly minted BK Blu Productions and Jackson’s Cheetah Vision Films have joined to present the film, a look at late boxer Johnny Tapia. It’s a Synthetic Creatures Production directed by Eddie Alcazar in association with Eric Drath‘s Live Star Entertainment. “Tapia” will have its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15, then screen again on June 18. “Tapia” explores the boxer’s mastery with five world titles in three weight classes and his personal demons, including his mother’s kidnapping and murder when he was 8 years old and his drug addiction and near death experiences. Alcazar was filming Tapia in the weeks before the fighter’s death last year at age 45. (Variety)

The New York rapper also discussed what motivated him to sign-on to the documentary.

“I was drawn to the intensity of this project,” he said. “His story resonated with me because like Tapia, I too lost my mother to violence and grew up with limited means. It’s a heartfelt story and it was important for me to get involved with bringing this to a broader audience.” Jackson told Variety he will be looking to find distribution for “Tapia” during the film festival. He admitted that he was surprised to find himself in the documentary business. “This wasn’t exactly on my list of things to do but I’m always looking for new areas,” he said. (Variety)

50 recently revealed plans to possibly put out a reality show based on his love for boxing.

Jackson’s fighters are all talented, but not many people outside of boxing have heard of them. So now he has to draw on the marketing genius that made him a millionaire in hip-hop, apparel and even flavored water. He’s making certain that Gamboa, a Cuban defector, learns English. He’s scheming up a TV reality show, a la The Ultimate Fighter. He also intends to change the current fight card paradigm. “I want to do away with the main event,” he says. “I want the entire card itself to be the main event. Not just the last fight.” Another thing he gets: the power of his own Q rating. “Due to the competitive nature of hip-hop, there are people who want to see 50 Cent fail,” he says. “So those people will tune in to see if Billy Dib loses — and that’s a vital connection through pop culture.” (ESPN)

Check out the Tapia trailer:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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