'Hands Of Stone' Teaser Trailer: Edgar Ramirez And Usher Transform For The Boxing Drama

Roberto Durán went 103-16-0 as a boxer, with a total of 70 knockouts. Durán, who started his boxing career at the age of 16, was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" ("Hands of Stone"). Throughout his incredible career, the Hands of Stone faced off against Sugar Ray Leonard a total of three times, but their most famous fight occurred in 1980, known as the "No Más Fight," in which Durán called it quits.

Now, The Weinstein Company has made a film about Durán, starring Edgar Ramírez and Robert De Niro, and the historic 1980 boxing match looks like a prominent storyline in the biopic.

Watch the Hands of Stone teaser trailer below.

Ramírez plays Roberto Durán in Hands of Stone. Since the actor's breakout performance in Carlos, he's starred in a few studio movies — Point Break, Wrath of the Titans, and Deliver Us From Evil – that didn't exactly light up the box-office. Hands of Stone is his next major release, and thankfully, it's considerably more enticing than the Point Break remake. The actor certainly looks the part of Durán, based on the first footage from writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz's film.

The film also stars Ana de Armas, Ellen Barkin, John Turturro, and, playing Sugar Ray Leonard, Usher Raymond IV. The pop artist has acted a bit throughout his career, but him playing Sugar Ray Leonard is, admittedly, a leap. Perhaps I haven't seen enough of Usher's performances to suggest he's a strong candidate to convincingly play Sugar Ray Leonard, though. Plus, this is also the kind of outside-the-box casting choice that could just work and surprise audiences.

There are familiar elements to Durán's story we've seen in other biopics, but seeing Edgar Ramírez as the famous boxer and De Niro taking on the trainer role, Ray Arcel, has the potential to make for an inspiring and exciting sports biopic, if done well.

A story centered around Leonard and Durán's 1980 match would definitely set the film apart from other boxing movies. How many huge boxing matches in movies come to an end because the protagonist says "no more"? Durán actually later went on to claim he never said "no more," but by now, it's a famous part of his history.

Here's the official synopsis for Hands of Stone:

HANDS OF STONE follows the life of Roberto Durán (Edgar Ramirez), the Panamanian fighter who made his professional debut in 1968 as a 16-year-old and retired in 2002 at the age of 50. In June 1980, he defeated Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond) to capture the WBC welterweight title, but shocked the boxing world by returning to his corner in their November rematch, famously saying the words "no mas" (no more.)

Hands of Stone opens in theaters August 27th.