Hope, Gloves And Redemption
Hope, Gloves And Redemption

At 15, Mickey Rosario was a gang leader in Spanish Harlem. Then two fateful meetings changed his life. He fell in love with a girl named Negra, and a juvenile court judge gave him a simple choice: go to jail or join the Army. Negra - and two years in the army- made Mickey a new man. When he came home, his life in the gangs war over. He married Negra, and found a job- and a calling. After a career as a professional boxer, Mickey turned to coaching. Recruiting kids from the neighborhood, he used the sport of amateur boxing and the physical and mental training and discipline that it requires, to turn their lives around the way he had his own. And Negra joined him, overcoming the chauvinism of a male-dominated frofession to become the first American woman boxing trainer. For over 30 years, Mickey and Negra have dedicated their lives to helping young men and women from Harlem and the Bronx break away from the temptations of drugs, gangs and crime to make something of themselves. This passionate documentary follows Mickey and Negra as they train some of their most promising young proteges for the biggest tournament in amateur boxing, the Daily News Golden Gloves Tournament. Frenchman Gedeon Naudet, who produced and directed the film with his brother Jules, spent 3 month training in the Rosario gym to gain first-hand insight into this inspiring story.