Sparring at the Concord Hotel 
Ezzard Charles' training camp 
Camp and resort staff, Sullivan County 
Shooting at Fighter's Heaven, Deer Lake PA 
One-sheet
Ringside in the Mountains
For sixty years the road to a title went through Sullivan County.
From the 1930s through the 1990s the Borscht Belt hotels — Grossinger's, Kutsher's, the Pines, the Concord — ran full training camps a few hundred feet from the pool. The sessions were open; you could watch a heavyweight spar on your way to lunch. Damon Runyon and Red Smith drove up from the city rather than fly to Vegas.
The hotels existed because Jews were barred from resorts elsewhere, and their owners returned the favour by taking everyone — Black and Hispanic fighters included, at a time when most of the industry would not. Jackie Robinson called Grossinger's a second home. Ali built his Deer Lake camp on what he saw in the mountains. Told in twelve rounds, from archival footage, photographs, and the people who were in the room.
One of its producers, Tommy Clohessy of Huntington, died in 2025 before the film was finished. It is dedicated to him.
- Best Documentary Short — Long Island International Film Expo 2026
- Miami Jewish Film Festival 2026
- Boca International Jewish Film Festival
- Nyack Film Festival 2026
- Hurleyville Performing Arts Center
- Written, Produced & Directed by
- Evan Haiman
- Produced & Edited by
- Michael Bolnick
- Produced by
- Hal Simon & Tommy Clohessy
- Cinematography
- Chris Cassidy
- Featuring
- Larry Holmes · Michael Spinks · Roberto Durán · Gerry Cooney · Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini · Tim Witherspoon · Lou Savarese · Donny Lalonde · Tracy Harris Patterson · Randy Gordon · Flo Anthony · Mark Kram Jr. · John Conway
- Narrator
- Mark Lucas
- Dedication
- Tommy Clohessy, 1966–2025
- Runtime
- 54 minutes
- Licensing
- Festival, broadcast and streaming
