When a former boxing champion fights his way out of a coma and back into the ring to train youngsters in Saint-Chamond (Loire), it's a story of social emancipation. The very symbol of resilience, which sometimes helps to triumph over death.

Youcef Zenaf, aka Zef, was a hero to young director Rayhane Chikhoun. He was the star of full-contact in the 1980s.

But one day in 1987, Zef was mowed down by Battesti, with a terrible, brutal knockout that left him in a deep coma for 40 days. A fallen hero, he fought against paralysis and ill-treatment in his rehabilitation center, and came out of it broken, but alive.

Today, Youcef Zenaf, 63, has returned to coaching young boxers in a small ring in Saint-Chamond.