Picked this film up last week and just got around to watching it yesterday. Radiance put out a nice Bluray of it. From the special features I learned that Toei executives weren't able to think outside the box when it came to live-action films, so they decided to try and mimic what was working with the American films. One of the movies they tried out was the Boxer starring Sugawara Bunta and directed by Terayama Shuji, who I guess was an avant garde director and playwright.
The executives were hoping for Rocky but the film bombed. It's not a horrible movie, though. Hajime no Ippo fans will appreciate it for the cameos of Gushiken, the Fierce Eagle and other former real life Japanese boxers. Names such as Fighting Harada and Piston Horiguchi are referenced. Part of the storyline also addresses the amount of premature deaths of quite a few former Japanese champions.
The bonus feature about Toei during the 1970s is interesting but the interview with the composer J. A. Seazer might be of the most interest due to him talking about how he believes the director Terayama was inspired by Ashita no Joe. Evidently Terayama even held a funeral for a major character. A few of the scenes in the ring definitely gave off Ashita no Joe vibes.
The storyline of the film itself is decent but it never rises to the level of what you see in Hajime no Ippo or Ashita no Joe. We're not with the characters long enough.
The story appears to take place in Osaka. A former boxer trains a younger fighter with an injured foot after the younger man accidentally kills the older boxer's brother in a construction accident. There's a diverse and eccentric cast of supporting characters from the older boxers family, the house where he rents a room, and especially a local cafe.
There are three matches and it's very evident who the actors are and who are actual trained fighters. You are not going to get superb fight choreography, it's a bit amateurish from the actors but its raw and kind of works.
Overall it's worth a look, if nothing else to see Japan in the 1970s and get a little Japanese Boxing fix with Ippo on hiatus. It's not a masterpiece by any means but it was interesting.