Mark Wahlberg, David O. Russell Want 'The Fighter 2,' But On What Timetable?

Mark Wahlberg claims he, director David O. Russell and Christian Bale plan on making a follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “The Fighter,” but just when exactly is it going to happen?

According to Spike TV at the network’s Guy’s Choice Awards (set to air June 10), Wahlberg claims a sequel is in the works that will address the most enduring legacy of real-life fighter Mickey Ward’s career.

“We left out the Arturo Gatti fights for a reason," he said. "Because that's for 'Fighter 2.' We're not going to do 'Fighter' 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, but we're gonna do 2. We're gonna do the Ward/Gatti trilogy."

The absence of those three fights was very conspicuous to boxing fans, who made their absence from the film their biggest sticking point against it. Understanding why isn’t hard, since the two split a pair of 10-round decisions in the first two fights in 2002 – the first of which was Ring Magazine’s Fight Of The Year. The 9^th round of that fight was dubbed Round Of The Century by boxing expert Emanuel Steward. Gatti won a 2003 rubber match that also won Ring’s Fight Of The Year, in which Gatti won essentially one-handed after breaking his twice-surgically repaired right hand in the 4^th round.

There is this one catch, though.

While Russell is somewhat freed-up by no longer being attached to a big-screen adaptation of the smash PlayStation 3 game “Uncharted,” neither he nor Wahlberg will be any less busy. The two are also trying to pull together a film version of the 2008 Matthew Quick novel “The Silver Lining Playbook” with Wahlberg starring opposite Angelina Jolie. The fact Russell is now meeting with Jolie may push back “The Fighter 2” from the near future.