Lights Out

Former heavyweight boxing champion Patrick "Lights" Leary struggles to find his identity after retiring from the sport. He also wonders how he is going to support his medical resident wife Theresa, and their three daughters. The series premiere begins five years after Leary's retirement following a controversial split-decision loss to Richard "Death Row" Reynolds. The Learys' once charmed life is on shaky ground; the IRS is determined to take away their mansion, and Patrick's brother/manager Johnny wants him to make a comeback, despite him showing signs of pugilistic dementia.

When Leary is threatened with criminal charges, he must do the bidding of bookmaker Hal Brennan to make them go away. Lights is also being coy with his suspicious wife Theresa, and Mike Fumosa, a pesky reporter—both having heard rumors that he will return to the ring to fight Reynolds. Meanwhile, his daughter Daniella finds out about her father's diagnosis and confronts him.

Lights struggles to help train his father's young fighter, Omar "The Armenian Avenger" Assarian for the middleweight championship against Monte "The Hurricane" Harris. Omar may be the best hope for Leary Gym of becoming a champion since Lights retired. However, promoter Barry K. Word is only interested in getting Omar into the fight if Johnny agrees to a deal involving Lights' return. Meanwhile, Patrick's family makes him a memory book for his 40th birthday and he spends the rest of the night watching the outcome of the fight.

Johnny gets himself in a life-threatening situation when he is unable to pay his gambling debt after betting on Omar's fight. So Lights has to put himself on the line to bail him out by fighting an MMA fighter named Dokaj in order to make the money and save his brother. Meanwhile, Theresa offers to donate $50,000 to help rebuild a clinic that her church is involved with in Haiti, but she soon discovers that the family's $12 million from Lights' fighting career is all gone.

The Learys' financial situation turns more desperate and they are advised to consider bankruptcy. However, Lights decides to make a comeback with a few easy fights, but discovers Johnny's deal with Barry Word. Despite this, Lights tries to find his own fight enlisting Reynolds' old sparring partner Jo Jo Reade for his next opponent. But an unfortunate accident causes him to take on a harder challenger in the dangerous ex-con Javier "El Diablo" Morales and the aftershock threatens Lights' and Theresa's marriage.

Lights starts training for his fight with El Diablo—his first fight in five years, while dealing with the heartbreak of being away from his family. While sparring, he receives an injury from a thumb to the eye, causing him to see double. This gets him into trouble hanging out with Johnny who tries to help his brother's well-being by setting him up with a call girl. When stories fly about his night out and that the fact he has been cage fighting for money, Lights seeks advice from reporter Mike Fumosa to make the story go away, but he wants to write about Lights' private life in return.