Boxers Who Are Most Likely to Have Movies Made About Their Lives

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With the success of last year's movie "The Fighter," which was based on the life of Micky Ward, there is a good chance there will be room for more directors to make a movie based on a boxer.

Underdogs overcoming the odds in and out of the ring are usually the theme for most movies featuring a boxer as the main character, and it's one that always makes for a unique story based on a person's life.

Some will work and some might not, but "The Fighter" proves that with the right cast and director, they can be made into highly-acclaimed and well-received films.

These are 10 current boxers that could have movies made about their lives.

No. 10: Victor Ortiz

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"Vicious" Victor Ortiz is only 24, but is very mature for his age. All you have to do is look at what he went through to get to where he is today to see why.

Being a child of Mexican immigrants, Ortiz had to deal with his mother abandoning him and his siblings at the age of seven.

Here is what he had to say about her in an interview with SweetScience.com:

"I hated that lady. I drew her a card once with a little rose on it and I gave it to her. She just threw it down and said 'What do I want that s*** for?' That's when I picked up boxing. Then my Dad started screwing up, drinking."

His father also abandoned him and his five siblings, leaving Ortiz, who was 10 at the time, to do whatever he could to take care of them while they stayed in the Kansas foster care system.

Ortiz also has a history of drug dealing during the early stages of his boxing career. He turned professional in 2004 and has had made a very strong case for himself as one of the best boxers in the world.

He is going to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September.

No. 9: Devon Alexander

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Devon Alexander comes from the streets of Hyde Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Also known as the "ghost town," it is an area that has been infested with crime, gangs and racial conflicts throughout the years.

At a young age, Alexander joined a local gym with trainer Chris Cunningham, who he is still with today. Of the 30 kids who joined the gym, eight are dead and over a dozen have been arrested.

Alexander's older brother and boxing prospect, Vaughn, is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence.

With a 300-10 amateur record, Alexander has more than one story that could show just what he has had to go through to become a former light welterweight champion.

No. 8: Kelly Pavlik

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Pavlik's problems outside the ring are well documented, but he has remained loyal to the hard-working town of Youngstown, Ohio. It was town that once thrived on steel manufacturing, but has since seen a major economical decline.

After pulling out of a fight with an opponent in November, 2010, Pavlik entered the Betty Ford Center in Mirage, California to mend an ongoing alcohol problem that had previously disrupted his professional boxing career. He left rehab earlier this year and has only fought once since.

Depending on where his career takes him, Pavlik has already had to overcome a lot, which has taken him all the way to winning the middleweight championship in 2007.

No. 7: Michael Katsidis

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Michael Katsidis is known for his all-out action style of fighting. They will need a good action choreographer on set if they have any plans on making a movie about the Australian former lightweight world champion.

Katsidis has had to deal with problems outside the ring, including the death of his brother, Stathi, prior to his fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2010. After contemplating dropping out of the fight, Katsidis continued and lost via ninth round TKO.

No. 6: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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Mayweather hasn't had to face much adversity inside the ring. His 41-0 career record proves he is next to unbeatable.

Fans love to hate him, but that doesn't mean they can't get a chance to know the real Mayweather if a movie is made about him.

A movie about "Money" may be anti-climatic if it doesn't end with him fighting Manny Pacquiao, but that might be the only way the fight actually happens.

No. 5: Bernard Hopkins

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Bernard Hopkins made history in 2011 when he became the oldest boxer to win a major world title, at the age of 46.

That isn't even the most interesting part about his life. How about the fact that he was sentenced to 18 years in prison at the age of 17. Prior to that, his childhood had consisted of mugging people and getting stabbed numerous times.

It was in prison that he discovered boxing, while witnessing the brutality that goes on behind the bars. When he got out in 1988, he was told by a guard that he would be back, to which Hopkins replied "I ain't ever coming back here."

In his first professional fight in 1988, Hopkins would lose a decision and wouldn't fight again till 1990. He would go on to become one of the most dominant middleweight champions throughout the 2000s, as well as the current light heavyweight champion.

No. 4: Daniel Ponce De Leon

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Daniel Ponce de Leon may have the lowest profile of any boxer on this list, but he has one of the more unique stories and backgrounds.

De Leon was raised in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range in Mexico. He is part of the Tarahumara Amerinidan people, a group that inhabits caves and lives off the mountains that they reside in.

Out of the five sons his parents had, he is the only one that survived the conditions and poverty that they were forced to deal with. They moved down from the mountains after the death of their fourth son.

"El Leon" would begin his boxing career in 2001. He would go on to become a super bantamweight and featherweight champion.

No. 3: Kermit Cintron

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Kermit Cintron had a very rough childhood. He was sent to live with his uncle in the United States after witnessing his mother die of cancer.

At the age of 13, Cintron would lose his father due to a heart attack.

Cintron excelled in sports in school and was offered a full scholarship to three universities for wrestling. Injuries would keep him from competing in wrestling, but he began to compete in amateur boxing at the age of 19.

He would go on to become a welterweight champion, but was dealt two major defeats against Antonio Margarito, to whom he lost his titles.

No. 2: Johnny Tapia

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Johnny Tapia may not be the boxer we all remember him for being, but he does still box. His last fight was in June, 2011.

Tapia's childhood is very well-known. While his mother was pregnant with him, his father was reportedly murdered.

When he was eight, his mother was kidnapped, raped and stabbed. Tapia, who was asleep at the time of the attack, awoke to see her chained to the back of a pick-up truck outside their home. She was found the following morning by police and died four days later in the hospital.

A year later, Tapia would begin to box. He would become an amateur champion before turning professional in 1988. His accomplishments inside the ring include being a super flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight champion.

Tapia's problems would not end once he found boxing. Drugs would become a problem late in his life. In March, 2007, his brother was killed in a car accident the same day he was found unconscious in a hotel room, due to a cocaine overdose.

No. 1: Manny Pacquiao

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There are many intriguing figures in the sport and the most famous of them all, Manny Pacquiao, already has had a movie made about him called "Pacquiao:The Movie." It was a box-office flop and only grossed $99,322, despite having a budget of over one million dollars.

Compare that to "The Fighter," which had a $25 million budget, and you can see why it didn't perform as well in the box office.

The 2006 film came out before Pacquiao had really captured the world's attention in and out of boxing. Since then, he has become a member of the Philippine House of Representatives and has gone on to conquer many champions over numerous divisions.

There is no doubt that there will be a high-budget movie made about him in the future. It's inevitable.