Bobby the Lip, a scheming down-on-his-luck sports promoter, intends to score big by setting upand fixinga bout between Tomcat Gordon, the reigning champion, and Junior, a black contender. But everyone wants a piece of the action and The Lip soon finds himself having to outsmart a complicated web of crooks, bookies, detectives, and mob goons. To make matters worse, Chicago is rooting for Junior. Big bets knock the odds in the air as both the police and the mob begin to close in on The Lip, smelling the fix and a profit. And just before the big night, a couple of dead bodies and a secret from Juniors past turn up, threatening to upset the big plan.