Access Motion Pictures produced this film over a year ago and has yet to find a distributor to release it in theaters.

Directed by Robert Townsend ('The Five Heartbeats'), 'Phantom' chronicles Sonny Liston's (Ving Rhames) rise to fame as a boxer and the single "phantom punch" he took at the hands of Muhammad Ali, which many believe led to the demise of his career. Stacey Dash plays his wife, Geraldine.

The film also stars Nicholas Turturro, David Proval, Bridgette Wilson and Troy Amos-Ross.

Liston was the 24th of 25 children born to an Arkansas sharecropper. Prone to violence, he served prison time for robbing a gas station and beating up a police officer. He turned to boxing as a way to gain respect and became world heavyweight champion in 1962.


While he was known to have ties to the mob -- and one of the most potent punches in heavyweight division history -- the boxer is best remembered for the incident that took place just two minutes into the 1965 bout with Ali. Liston, who had seldom been knocked to his feet, went down from what was long debated as a felonious punch.

The photograph from the fight's conclusion has been forever immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

PHANTOM PUNCH HD TRAILER (3:04) from Idiosyncratic Pictures on Vimeo.