What 1949 Robert Wise film noir follows boxer Stoker Thompson?

The 1949 Robert Wise film noir about boxer Stoker Thompson is The Set-Up.

Robert Ryan plays Stoker, an aging fighter who is secretly double-crossed by his manager. The manager accepts money from a gangster for Stoker to lose, but Stoker is not told about the fix until the fight is already underway. He refuses to surrender and defeats the younger Tiger Nelson, paying a brutal price afterward.

The film compresses its action into roughly one evening, using clocks and repeated time markers to create a real-time feeling. It was adapted by Art Cohn from Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem, though the film substantially changed the protagonist and ending.

The Set-Up is sometimes confused with Champion, another 1949 boxing drama. Champion also concerns corruption and exploitation in professional boxing, but it stars Kirk Douglas and was directed by Mark Robson. The Set-Up is the Robert Ryan film centered on Stoker Thompson.