Wesley Snipes objected to Miramax's demand to do a scene that would make his character more sympathetic.
This film was actually filmed at two different Nevada prisons as well as having a major fight scene filmed at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus.
Snipes worked out with boxing trainer Emanuel Steward to prepare for his role in the film. Steward is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame for training boxers like Thomas Hearns and Lennox Lewis.
The title appears on screen four times during the entire film.
Ving Rhames had spent two years getting in shape for another movie role biopic about a boxing legend, but when that fell through this script caught his eye and he simply resumed his training for this film.