Beaten up Raging Bull star almost lost will to go on? (7,2)
I believe the answer is:
soldier on
'beaten up raging bull' is the definition.
The definition suggests a verb in its base form which matches the answer.
'star almost lost will to go on?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'star' could be 'sol' (I've seen this before) and 'sol' is present in the answer.
'go' could be 'die' (synonyms) and 'die' is located in the answer.
'on?' could be 'on' and 'on' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'r' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for soldier on that I've seen before include "keep going" , "Keep struggling" , "... to bear up" , "Don't give up" , "Persist in spite of difficulties" .)