After the opening credits, in which we see a montage of stills of Belarmino taken in the streets of Lisbon, there follows a sequence showing the ex-boxer at a training session in his former boxing club.

We are shown scenes of the daily domestic routine of Fragoso and his wife at their home in the Rua Barros Queirós, which seems at once both fragile and tranquil.

We also see footage shot at the Grupo Desportivo da Mouraria, a small neighbourhood association where Belarmino first began to box and where he met the man who was to manage him for the most part of his career: Albano Martins.

Here youths who are presumably the next generation of hopeful boxers train against a backdrop filled with the paraphernalia of traditional neighbourhood life.

There is a cut to a long, high angle shot of the ex-boxer dancing with a woman and it is implied that she might be a prostitute, especially as Fragoso had just been quizzed upon rumours of his consorting with sex workers.

The next sequence in the experiential strand then closes the film, with Belarmino in long shot walking in a crowded street, glimpsed through the balustrade of a veranda.

Belarmino was then, he tells us, contracted by Jack Solomon, whom he describes as "um dos maiores empresários mundiais".

With little or no preparation Belarmino travels to London to fight a second-rate boxer referred to as Vic Andeeti in the interview, but whose actual name is Andretti (and who was later to manage Def Leppard), by whom he is routed within a couple of rounds.

Fragoso then tells the story of his immediate family, his loyal wife to whom he claims devotion, his first daughter who he had to give up for adoption and his second who almost went blind through meningitis.

We return to Albano Martins, who tells us of Belarmino's indiscipline, of his going out on the town the night before the fight against Sotta and having to undergo a drastic weight-loss regimen on the day of the weigh-in to make the grade.

Martins claims Belarmino "podia ser grande", but cites his lack of discipline as the main reason behind his ultimate failure.

Belarmino then recounts with evident pride how he managed to be champion of Portugal, despite the hunger and hardships he had to face, and underlines the fact that he was continually cheated due to his illiteracy and innumeracy.

He then goes on to criticise Portuguese boxing for being infested with leeches and hangers-on, impresarios who creamed money off the sport without constructing or contributing.

When asked whether he would still be able to fight at a competitive level, Belarmino demurs and discusses the conditions a boxer needs to perform to the best of his ability: good sustenance and the freedom to train and concentrate on the match.

After the bout against Toni Alonso, interspersed with the nightclub scenes, Belarmino tells of his relations with women, which he dismisses as being of little consequence, and shrugs off various accusations of immorality.

Shown in a long shot that reveals the set upon which the interview is taking place, we hear Baptista-Bastos ask Belarmino what he expects the audience's perception of him to be.

The last part of this wishful thinking is heard over a high-angled long shot taken through the blurred wrought-iron bars of a balcony.