I also thought the portrayal of the main character’s family went too far into a “trailer trash” stereotype and was needlessly ancillary to the primary story line. Where are they when we’re fighting?” Lisa Holewyne thought the movie relied too heavily on stereotypes and thought the film came off, on the whole, as “unrealistic.”Įastwood is a very talented filmmaker but I thought he did go a bit too heavy on the pro wrestling type villain played by real life boxer, Lucia Rijker. Kelsey Jeffries wasn’t particularly happy with the way the movie depicted the sport, “I suppose you can say it was good for the public to learn more about our sport, but I think they don’t leave the movie feeling positive, given the dark ending.” Jane Couch put it in more “real life” terms, “It’s crazy, when you fight, none of these people can be bothered to cover the bout, but Hollywood makes their version of our sport and everyone goes crazy. Like most good boxing movies, “Million Dollar Baby” is only peripherally about boxing and the film’s depiction of Women’s boxing, at times, comes up short. They know there’s a big difference between “cut” as in “stop the scene” and “cut” as in “the ref is going to stop the fight.” These women know more about the sport of boxing than fifty movie critics of the “two thumbs up” variety and they know it from inside the sport, inside the ring. Kelsey Jeffries holds the IFBA featherweight title and is considered one of the most technically proficient boxers in the sport and is a fighter with the justifiable reputation of going anywhere, any time, to climb into the ring with anyone. Lisa Holewyne is the GBU welterweight title holder, a former University of Texas pentathlete, who has fought every one of the top fighters in her weight class, some of them twice, as is the case with her two bouts with Anani. Jane Couch is the most acclaimed female boxer in the United Kingdom and the uncrowned IWBF welterweight champion (Couch was stripped of that title as a result of having the temerity to contract an illness as she was preparing for a title defense last December). Sumya Anani is generally considered the best pound/pound fighter in the sport, currently holding the IBA welterweight championship.

It was those women I went to for a view of “Million Dollar Baby”, a view from the ring. However, in the case of a movie about Women’s boxing, I was sure I knew who did know: four women boxers who have toiled a collective thirty years inside the ring and who, together, have won 98 times against the top competition in the sport.

Million dollar baby true