DICKY EKLUND inspired an Oscar-winning performance by Christian Bale for his depiction of the boxing champion-turned drug addict.
Bale took Best Supporting Actor in 2011 for his role in The Fighter alongside Mark Wahlberg – who played Eklund’s brother Micky Ward.
Former boxer Dicky Eklund in HBO’s ‘High on Crack Street’[/caption]
Christian Bale with Dicky Eklund in 2010[/caption]
Christian Bale played Eklund while Mark Wahlberg portrayed his brother Micky Ward[/caption]
Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund in 2011[/caption]
It followed the story of how Eklund went from hometown hero who fought the great Sugar Ray Leonard for $7,500 (around £6,000) to a crack cocaine addict.
His brother Micky meanwhile was attempting to break out of Lowell, Massachusetts, and into the big time in boxing.
But 20 years before The Fighter’s release, Eklund featured in the grim true-life HBO documentary called “High on Crack Street”.
It followed a group of drug users and drew back the curtain on the harsh reality of addiction.
In the episode, Eklund can be seen smoking from a crack pipe and reminiscing about his boxing past – and his 1978 loss to Sugar Ray.
He is later arrested – for the 27th time – and his family put on a fundraiser to pay off the $5,000 bail.
A group of locals, paying $10 apiece, watch back Eklund’s HBO fight against Leonard, which included a disputed knockdown against the legend.
Eklund is eventually bailed and starts training brother Micky for a fight.
And after Ward wins a bout, Eklund said: “I could’ve been probably up close to the champion of the world, maybe. If I lived the right life. Staying clean.”
Eklund then went missing the day after brother Mickey’s fight and was found in a local crack house.
His trainer Mickey O’Keefe – who actually played himself in The Fighter – said: “The addiction’s too much for him. It’s real sad.
“Sad because he’s got a family and kids at home. A little baby that depends on him.
“Maybe the best thing for him is going to jail, maybe it will save his life.”
The doc finishes with Eklund being sentenced to ten years in jail for a series of crimes including armed robbery.
In that time, Ward went on to win titles and shared an iconic trilogy with the late Arturo Gatti which earned him $3million in total.
Eklund only served five years in prison and came out to again train Ward.
But he found himself in trouble with the law over the years, again getting arrested in 2006 on drug charges.
Ward retired in 2003 after his trilogy loss to Gatti, who he later coached and became close friends with.
His son visits him in jail[/caption]
This was Eklund’s disputed knockdown against Sugar Ray Leonard[/caption]
The American opened up a gym and trained fighters alongside brother Eklund, who was clean of drugs.
Their story was so inspiring Hollywood’s Wahlberg spent years trying to get it green lit.
Eventually, director David O Russell produced the 2010 classic The Fighter with Wahlberg co-starring alongside Bale and Amy Adams.
Bale dropped TWO STONE to portray drug-addicted Eklund at just 10st 3lb.
The two spent time together in local Lowell bars and boxing gyms – with Bale still in touch with Eklund and his son Dicky Jr to this day.
He told GQ in 2022: “Dicky, he’s such a character.
“He makes his presence felt all the time. I spent so much time hanging out with Dicky beforehand.
“Being in Lowell, hanging out with him, going walking around, getting kicked out of bars, having almost every cop stopping and going, ‘Hey, hey Dicky!’ and then telling me a story about when they arrested him.
“Going to the boxing gym, jumping in the ring and sparring with him — and oh my God, it’s really quite something when you might think you can, ‘Ah, I’ll be a decent boxer,’ you spar with other amateurs and whatnot, I’d done that a few times.
“But when you get in the ring with a pro? Bloody hell.”
The success of The Fighter fuelled demand for a sequel and a year after its release plans for a follow up were in place.
Wahlberg wanted to tell the story of Ward’s legendary trilogy with Gatti and their friendship after battle.
But the sequel sadly never came to fruition despite Wahlberg never losing hope.
He said in 2022: “I was never really in the sequel business.
“But The Fighter really lent itself for another movie because of Micky and Arturo Gatti’s trilogy.
I could’ve been probably up close to the champion of the world, maybe. If I lived the right life. Staying clean.
Dicky Eklund, speaking on HBO’s ‘High on Crack Street’
“I’m always kind of looking for the next thing. But if the audience really wants it, and they really love it, and we can make one better than the first then I’d be willing to do it again, for sure.”
Gatti was mysteriously found dead in 2009 in a hotel in Pernambuco, Brazil where he was on holiday with his wife and ten-month-old son.
His wife Amanda Rodrigues was initially charged with murder after Brazilian authorities ruled Gatti’s death a homicide.
But after the coroner’s autopsy report was released, they declared it was a suicide by hanging, and charges against his widow were dropped.
Ward often pays tribute to his opponent and close friend – posting a picture of them this past April.
He captioned it: “Happy 52nd Arturo! Not a day goes by I don’t think of ya buddy.”
Eklund has two sons, Dicky Jr and Tommy, and a daughter named Kerry.
Dicky Jr works at the famed Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles where Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach took him under his wing.
And Sean was an 11-4 fighter who owns a gym himself Massachusetts, meaning after all these years, boxing is still in the family.
Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward’s trilogy was the rumoured plot for The Fighter 2[/caption]
Eklund and Ward pose together[/caption]
