Swing Bout review – underdog, backstage boxing tale is a gutsy winner

The Guardian

06-05-2025

'T errible' Toni (Ciara Berkeley) is broke, but she's a fighter – literally. Heading into her first televised boxing match, this young sportswoman is intent on making the most of what feels like a golden opportunity. She's also personally invested; her opponent (an excellent Chrissie Cronin) is a cocky TikTok star who could perhaps benefit from being taken down a peg or two. Unfortunately, boxing at this level isn't squeaky clean, and she'll be asked to make some tough decisions with serious implications for her integrity and future in the sport.
Named for the filler matches boxing promoters use to plug spaces in the TV schedule when more established contenders fail to fight for as long as anticipated, this Irish boxing film is low on budget but high on guts and gumption. Set entirely backstage in the offices, toilets and dressing rooms that the fighters, promoters and coaches occupy when not in the ring, writer-director Maurice O'Carroll's scrappy, gutsy drama relies almost entirely on its actors (Sinead O'Riordan is particularly good as a dodgy coach) and script to hold your attention. There's no recourse to effects or scenery to break up the people-in-rooms of it all, and initially you might wonder if that's going to be enough.
It turns out that Swing Bout is much like an underdog boxing movie itself. At the outset, you don't rate its chances: cast and crew don't exactly have a high profile track record. But what's this? Around the midpoint, you start to feel a pleasant sense of surprise. This underdog might just pull it off. You want to know how this one is going to turn out. They've got you. By the time the punchy climax rolls around, you realise they've pulled off the improbable and created a tense sports/crime drama on a budget easily one tenth of their equivalent rivals.
Swing Bout is on digital platforms from 12 May.