For professional sportsmen there is a lucrative career to be made if they’re on top of their game, making household names out of the likes of Beckham, Joshua and Bolt.

The same can’t be said for sportswomen sadly, who still get a bum deal on the wages front, as in life, regardless of how good they are.

This is the true and remarkable story of Claressa Shields, a young woman who saw her talent as a boxer as a way of making something of herself, as well as providing for her family.

Once the home of car manufacturing, Flint, Michigan, has seen better days. No wonder young Claressa (Ryan Destiny) wants out; even as a child she was drawn to the world of boxing, and now finds herself a real contender, at the tender age of 17.

She has attended the same boxing gym for most of her life, where she is trained by its owner Jason (Brian Tyree Henry). He sees something special in her, despite overwhelming odds, such as coming from a poor background.

Her talent gets her to China though, where if she does well, she can fight for a spot at the London Olympics.

But she finds that some of her biggest challenges remain outside of the ring.

This sports bio marks the directorial debut for Rachel Morrison, with a script by none other than Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (2017’s Moonlight).

It’s a fairly safe debut, with the fascinating life story doing all of the heavy lifting, following a fairly well-trodden, generic path to success.

There’s a little more depth however, thanks to the touching relationship between boxer and trainer. Henry’s character becomes the surrogate father figure, with her own father incarcerated, who supports her as best he can. It doesn’t get too sentimental, grounding it in realism, but it is most certainly the heart of the film.

Morrison then goes a little bit above and beyond the norm however, as she also examines the disgusting pay discrepancy between the two sexes in sport, specifically boxing. It’s certainly getting better in that sport in particular, thanks to the likes of legends in the ring Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, but we’re still a way of from anything resembling equality.

But it’s undoubtedly another superb sports bio that shines a light on a unique talent in the sports world, facing substantial adversity to be a knockout warrior in the ring.