Ramirez is to play boxing champion Roberto Duran while De Niro will play his trainer Ray Arcel in a drama that focuses on how each man changed the life of the other, reported Deadline.
It is set during boxing's Golden Era, when Duran was among top notch fighters including Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Hector Camacho, Vinny Pazienza.
The focus will be on the Panamanian boxer's incredible brawls with Leonard, culminating in an inexplicable ending of the famous fight where Duran quit in the ring and cried "No mas", on a night when Leonard was having his way.
"The story of Roberto Duran and Ray Arcel is not only a homage to the golden days of boxing; it is most importantly the story of a fatherless man who teaches every single one of us the true meaning of never giving up," Weisleder said.