Actor Khris Davis packs a punch, puts on pounds playing title role in new movie 'Big George Foreman'

HOLLYWOOD -- Khris Davis is the star of a new movie about boxing great George Foreman and how's this for a title? "Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World."

It's a big story to tell! It's about the famous boxer's journey from poverty to the boxing ring then to church then back to boxing and beyond.

Davis was up for the challenge. He studied the man he played from the moment he got the job to his last day of filming.

"After doing this film, what it has done for me is it showed me the great lengths that I can go to achieve something with the work," said Davis. "I didn't know that I'd be able to do all that. I just said yes and I kept showing up. That's it. I didn't know that I would be pushed that far, but I did it, and I survived and I made it."

However, it wasn't easy. Necessity forces Foreman back into the boxing world and that forced Davis to drastically change his appearance and gain weight to look the way Foreman did when he re-entered the ring.

"In the course of about five weeks, I went from 225 to 275. The heaviest like that was 282," said Davis. "I ate 7,000 calories a day, all pescatarian, okay? No dairy, no sugar did it all clean. He was open to us exploring his flaws, you know? I think that that's what makes this story so impactful is this person with so many flaws, who made so many mistakes, has an opportunity at redemption, at a second chance. He takes that second chance and he turns his life around."

"Big George Foreman" is in theatres Friday, April 28.