Overall a great Movie, a few noted problems aside.

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2005)

I enjoyed this movie and it is very well made. The acting is superb all around. The boxing scenes were very well done and the only other recent film I remember to have such realistic fight scenes was "The Boxer", with Daniel Day Lewis.(Also an excellent film) I would expect Hilary to win a well deserved second Oscar.
That said I have a few problems with the script.
SPOILER BELOW::::::::::::::::::::::::: First of all, as anyone who follows the fight game can tell you, Maggie would have Won her title fight by the other fighters Disqualification. The ref clearly said "You try that stuff again , your outta here!" All title fights are videotaped. Even if the ref missed the brutal sucker punch, one of the judges would have seen it. Of course, it makes the story sadder and more Ironic and also sets up some other plot points such as Frankie not telling Maggie what her Nick-name means , etc. So I can see why Clint did it that way.
A pretty minor point to most I suppose but it is important to realize that Boxing is not THAT dirty and corrupted.