I can't help drawing similarities in the storyline between this and Rocky 3. Admittedly, I went to watch this movie for Rachel McAdams. The title "Southpaw" was a bit misleading because it doesn't really lend any importance to the character nor the story. The 2nd half of the movie was much much better than the first. In the first half, we see the main character portrayed as a gangster wannabe who thinks he's indestructible. When he is ultimately hit with a dosage of reality, we see him slide rapidly into stupidity and irresponsibility. I find this very hard to believe. The ending is very Hollywood and I hated it because it just would not happen in real life. Yeah yeah, escapism and all that... but honestly - so far fetched? In summary, not a bad film and a nice remake of Rocky 3. But that's all it was for me.