Top left image via Getty Images, top right image via Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV //
The Black Panther actor has reportedly signed on to play Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson in the rags to riches story.
For many of us our first exposure to Kimbo Slice was watching a YouTube videos of the imposing street fighter rolling up to a carpark or backyard somewhere, offloading his shirt and chain and locking in to a gritty gloveless fight with a local challenger. It was usually a pretty brutal affair, soundtracked by the cheering of watchers on and the unmistakable sound of flesh meeting flesh as the dominant Slice invariably took down his opponent.
Later we became acquainted with Slice the professional as he swapped car parks and backyards for the octagon and tried his hand at MMA before moving onto boxing where his record at the time of his 2015 death was and impressive 7-0. As entertaining as his fighting was, we didn’t know a heap about his actual life, though that is all about to change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs_taw66W2A
The upcoming biopic Backyard Legend has just signed Winston Duke on as lead, and is said to focus on the story behind the fighter including his pre-fighting life working as a bodyguard for porn production company Reality Kings and his family life with his six children – boys, Kevin Jr., who is also a mixed martial artist, Kevin II and Kevlar and three daughters, Kiara, Kevina and Kassandra.
The films producer Steven Lee Jones is about as excited as we are to see Duke take on this role. “It’s a rich and layered tale about this man’s incredible journey from a poor neighborhood in Miami to becoming a worldwide phenomenon. We are ecstatic that Winston has decided to take on this both physically and emotionally challenging role. We simply could not find a better Kimbo!” Jones said.
Duke, who is best known for his role as M’Baku in the Black Panther really does seem like the perfect man to take on the role of the fighter who died aged 42 in 2015 due to congestive heart failure. Stay tuned for more news on what will surely be huge film.
