The world champion, an African-American powerhouse, is set to defend his title when his opponent is forced to pull out last minute due to a hand injury.

Out of nowhere a new, little-known boxer gets a shot at the world title.

Fighting under the name ‘The Italian Stallion’, the underdog embarks on weeks of gruelling physical and mental training to capitalise on the chance of a lifetime.

Sound familiar?

The synopsis is almost identical to that of ‘Rocky’, only this time it’s for real. It’s the story of Melbourne boxer, Frank Lo Porto.

In 2014, when Frank was ranked 12 in the world, he was offered the opportunity to fight undefeated WBA light middleweight champion, Austin ‘No Doubt’ Trout for the world title in his hometown of El Paso, Texas.

When the Italo-Australian wharfie got the phone call telling him he’d been handpicked and offered the chance to fight for the world championship, he was 33 years old and approaching the end of his career.

With no fights previously lined up, Lo Porto was training irregularly while working at the Port Melbourne docks.

He certainly wasn’t preparing for a world title match just five weeks away.

What may have served as an excuse to say no for some was only more of a reason to say yes in Frank’s eyes, and he was in the gym the next day.

Established actor, Nick Barkla met Frank while boxing in the same gym a few years back, and the two hit it off quickly.

When Nick heard the exciting news back in 2014, he thought it was the perfect opportunity to jump behind the camera for a change and follow Frank’s journey from day one.

“I grabbed my brother’s stills camera, which has a really nice video component to it, I rigged up some sound gear, and I was in the gym the next day filming,” Nick says.

“What inspired me was Frank’s courage in taking the fight in the first place, because he was really up against the odds right from the start, but was still determined to go through with it.”

The end product was the short-form documentary, ‘Inside Fighter’, which will show at Lorne Film 2016 on Saturday, November 12.

Nick shot, directed and produced the documentary singlehandedly, proving to be a man of many talents across all facets of the film industry.

“It was just one of those things where there was really no time to organise anyone to do anything; it was just grab a camera and go because he was in the gym the next day training,” Nick says.

Nick filmed Frank across four weeks of arduous training in Melbourne, before following the boxer to Texas a week before the fight, and then capturing the events of the big night.

“His challenge over that period was to convince himself that he could win the fight,” Nick says.

“It was the moment he had been fighting for his whole career, and to prepare for it in a really condensed period of time entailed a balancing act of great excitement but also real trepidation.”

I suppose you’re all wondering how the fight played out.

Unfortunately, there was no Cinderella story ending.

The much younger Trout held onto his title, as referee Rafael Ramos stopped the fight late in the sixth round to give the champion a technical knockout win.

Surprisingly, this wasn’t where Nick packed up the camera.

“All I knew when I took on filming was that there was going to be a fight in five weeks and he’d either win or lose; then when Frank lost the fight I was wondering where the story went from there,” Nick says.

“Talking to him, it became evident that it was a really traumatic thing that had just happened, because it was potentially the end of the road for him and the end of a dream.”

Nick decided to film Frank on and off for 18 months in the wake of his defeat, focusing on how he came to deal with a brush with greatness closely followed by a devastating loss.

Despite the heartbreak of losing, Frank has said that given his time again, he still would’ve accepted the fight.

The underlying message is that sometimes you just have to roll the dice.

“Had Frank not decided to take the fight, he could’ve always wondered whether he was good enough to be a world champion,” Nick says.

“There are lots of boxers out there who fight their whole careers and never actually have a chance to find out, and it’s really heartbreaking for them because it eats away at them.”

‘Inside Fighter’ has sparked further film opportunities for Nick, who has recently finished shooting a second documentary called ‘The Horses’, which is based on soldiers working with horses to help heal their PTSD.

The actor-turned-director is also working on a feature length documentary entitled ‘The Mighty Apollo’, which narrates the story of an Australian circus strongman and his quest during the 1950s and ‘60s to become the strongest man in the world.

And as for Frank’s fate?

I guess you’ll have to head down the coast next weekend to find out!

‘Inside Fighter’ will be showing at Lorne Film 2016 on Saturday, November 12 at 4:30 pm.