RINGSIDE SEAT TO A BRUISING RISE TO GLORY

Director David Michod’s heavyweight boxing drama, based on the life of Christy Martin, who blazed a trail for women in the 90s, delivers its most devastating blows outside the ring.

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In 1989, college basketball player Christy (Sydney Sweeney) finds “her thing” when she enters an amateur boxing competition. Her homophobic mother, Joyce (Merritt Wever), is troubled by rumours about a relationship with classmate Rosie (Jess Gabor) so Christy languishes in the closet and takes on James V Martin (Ben Foster) as her coach, and then husband.

Supported by boxing promoter Don King (Chad L Coleman) and a ringside team comprising Big Jeff (Bryan Hibbard) and Miguel Diaz (Gilbert Cruz), Christy is an unstoppable force but behind closed doors she is brutalised by James, who repeatedly tells her he will kill her if she dares to leave him.

If you don't know the harrowing true story of Martin's personal struggles that fuelled her hard-fought rise to glory, the final 30 minutes will be a gasp-inducing dramatic knockout.

Michod’s picture is a knuckle-bruising showcase for Sweeney and Foster, who vanish into their psychologically damaged characters, as verbal jabs (“What kind of man has a job that can't pay the bills?’) escalate into life-threatening injury.