URTAIN, EL REY DE LA SELVA… O ASÍ

José Manuel Ibar Azpiazu, known as Urtain after the Basque hamlet where he grew up, was a Spanish boxer who became the European heavyweight champion. This documentary reviews what his figure meant for Spain in the 1960s through a series of interviews with himself, his relatives and friends, coaches and relevant personalities at the time, such as boxer Pedro Carrasco, actress and singer Marisol, bullfighter Palomo Linares and football players Amancio and Paco Gento.

Biographical film of the boxer José Manuel Ibar Azpiazu “Urtain”, made even before the fighter won his first European Championship title in 1970. The great popularity achieved by Urtain at the end of the 1960s attracted the director and scriptwriter Manuel Summers to film this documentary about the phenomenon that his figure represented in the world of boxing. With the basic idea that man is more animal than rational, Summers intersperses a series of interviews with the sportsman and also with his family, friends and trainers. Among them, well-known faces such as Pedro Carrasco, Marisol, the bullfighter Palomo Linares or the footballers Amancio and Paco Gento. The interview that a young reporter José María García gives to Urtain, trying to get him to confess whether or not the fights are rigged or not, is a curious one.