The Champ is the heartwarming story of a diminutive young girl with a fierce right hook. Seventeen-year-old Fatima Alcantar was a fighter and troublemaker, until she got noticed by Johnnie Gray who runs the East Alto Boxing Club. What Fatima found in the boxing club, among the punching bags and mats, was an outlet for her aggression and feelings about being abandoned by her mother as a child. And what Gray finds, is a natural talent. Fatima is a strong and serious trainee who throws lightning-quick punches. As she blossoms as a boxer and a person, she also discovers lessons of life within the ring.
—Katie Klingsporn