AllMovie

Originally a five-part miniseries, The Contender was also made available as a pared-down feature film. Marc Singer stars as Johnny Captor, an Oregon-based boxer with Olympic aspirations. When his dad commits suicide, Johnny decides to quit college and support his mom (Louise Latham) and brother (Alan Stock) by boxing professionally. Moses Gunn costars as Captor's trainer George Beifus, who vicariously relives his own glory days in the ring through his boy Johnny. And Katherine Cannon is Jill, the obligatory girl friend who hates boxing and wants Johnny to quit. The Contender ran on the CBS TV network from April 3 to May 1, 1980.