Sydney Sweeney packs a punch, literally, in upcoming Christy Martin biopic

While filming intense boxing scenes for the upcoming biopic on trailblazing boxer Christy Martin, actress Sydney Sweeney landed some real punches on her co-star Katy O’Brian and surprisingly, no one’s upset about it.

In fact, O’Brian, best known for her roles in action-packed projects, called it “great” to be hit during filming. Speaking to ‘Variety’ during the premiere of ‘Eddington’, an A24 film by Ari Aster, O’Brian recalled, “I got punched quite a few times. It felt good. It was great. It better read well on camera.”

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The film stars Sydney Sweeney as Christy Martin, the celebrated female boxing champion of the 1990s, who broke barriers in a male-dominated sport.

O’Brian plays one of Martin’s opponents in the ring. The physicality of their roles wasn’t just an act, both actors trained hard, and it showed.

Sweeney went through a dramatic physical transformation for the role. Earlier this year, she told ‘W Magazine’ that she gained about 30 pounds for the film.

“My body was completely different. I didn’t fit in any of my clothes,” she said. “I’m usually a size 23 in jeans, and I was wearing a size 27. My boobs got bigger. And my butt got huge. It was crazy! I was like, ‘Oh my god’. But it was amazing: I was so strong, like crazy strong.”

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That strength became evident in the ring. Though O’Brian is still physically larger than Sweeney by about 20 to 30 pounds, even after Sweeney’s weight gain, she hesitated to strike her co-star too hard. “It never feels good,” O’Brian admitted. “But she didn’t seem to care very much.”

The two actors reportedly shared a good rapport during filming, even joking about the bruises. O’Brian recalled asking Sweeney not to break her nose, as she had to shoot another film, ‘The Running Man’, soon after. Sweeney’s response? “If you break my nose, that’s fine.”

The biopic explores not just Martin’s life in the ring but also the darkness she endured outside it. A legendary figure in boxing, Martin fought professionally from 1989 to 2012 and won the super welterweight world title in 2009. But in 2010, she survived a brutal attack by her then-husband, James Martin, who stabbed and shot her.

Miraculously, she lived. He was later convicted of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.