Swing Bout is an Irish boxing drama thriller, unique in its genre, as we never see the ring where the fights take place, as the film is limited to the offices and locker room of a boxing venue. The plot revolves around Tony, a young boxer with great talent who has shown great promise in boxing, but is still struggling to make it in the world of professional boxing. In addition to Tony's adventures, Swing Bout also features a couple of subplots that often dominate the film, making it a very engaging film.
Swing Bout begins in the locker room of a private boxing venue somewhere in Ireland, where tensions are high on an important night. However, we don't focus on the superstars who will face each other in the ring, but rather on a group of four young female boxers who have been waiting for their chance to make it big in the sport. The women are the swing fighters, a professional term for young athletes who hang back, ready for impromptu brawls that entertain the crowd. Often, big-name fights don't last as long as organizers hope, leaving a significant amount of free time before the next batch of boxers can enter the ring. It's during these intervals that swing fighters step in for short, unscheduled bouts, and these athletes need to prove themselves repeatedly before ascending to the upper echelons of the boxing hierarchy.
Director: Maurice O'Carroll
Writer: Maurice O'Carroll
Stars: Ciara Berkeley, Chrissie Cronin, Sinead O'Riordan
Mary Malicious, one of the swing fighters, has a heated argument with a fellow boxer over the triviality of accidentally drinking water from her coworker's private bottle. The film's protagonist, known worldwide as Terrible Tony, is also in the locker room during this time, but steers clear of petty brawls as she prepares for the evening with the help of a motivational podcast. There are more pressing matters on Tony's mind, as he wonders if he'll be able to get into the ring that night. Since these athletes' schedules aren't fixed, Tony will only be able to fight if he has enough free time and if the promoters are willing to give him the opportunity. But he can't afford to go another night without action, as Tony desperately needs the money from the fights, so much so that she doesn't even have the money to return to England at the moment.
Meanwhile, other events are unfolding in the halls of the boxing arena, where YouTube reporter Gary is interviewing several boxers, including a man named Flann, who has been waiting for a big fight he'd been promised. While Flann talks with the Casey brothers, the arena owners and promoters, the latter have their own concerns at the moment. Micko, the eldest brother, is grieving over his wife Gina's decision to leave him and has only given him two days to move his belongings out of their house. Meanwhile, Jack receives a request from an influential local family, the Dempseys, and sets about ensuring their request is met. To his delight, Tony quickly receives word from her manager, Emma, that she has been selected for a televised fight, giving her a great opportunity to showcase her talent. However, there is one condition: Tony must intentionally lose the fight in the second round.
As soon as Emma informs Tony of the situation, she flatly refuses to participate in such a dishonorable deal, but her opinion begins to change over time. Tony is uncomfortable with the fact that he needs the promoters' financial support, yet he doesn't want to betray his passion for boxing. On the one hand, the young woman has had great success recently, evidenced by her winning streak, which is why she is considered unbeatable in the lower ranks of the sport. But on the other hand, it is Jack Casey himself who has ordered Emma to intentionally make Tony lose the fight. Disobeying him will mean that Tony will no longer be able to fight in the future, which will directly affect his income.
Tony desperately needs the money, as he has been struggling to make ends meet. She has been estranged from her family for several years, and it is right now—in fact, this very day—that her mother is coming to visit her for the first time in two or three years. It is also mentioned that Tony has a dark past, as he lived a life of crime in his teens, stealing and looting, and it was possibly at this time that his family broke up with him. As Emma mentions, Tony's dark past, which is quite well-known in the boxing world, could make for a very interesting story, as audiences love to see stories of people who rise from poverty to riches. But for now, he still hopes to prove to his family, especially his mother, that he has turned his back on his family.
But the woman obviously won't be impressed by seeing her daughter lose in the ring, and this is reason enough for Tony to disagree with being part of this fraudulent deal. However, he also can't ignore the financial benefit. Jack will not only pay her 10,000 euros as a reward, but he will also help her enter more fights in the future. After all, boxing, at least at this level, is a spectacle, where certain athletes and their stories receive more attention than others, and as Emma reminds Tony, he can't even hope for a fair boxing world. Seeing her lose might make her mother think she isn't very interested in boxing or that she isn't good at it, and yet she would still earn enough money to impress her family. This internal conflict grows in Tony's mind until he finally steps into the ring.
When Emma presents the plan to Tony, it seems as if the whole thing has been orchestrated by Jack solely for his own financial and political gain. However, the truth is that Emma is also interested in profiting from the situation, as she and her partner, Gary, have been experiencing serious financial problems. This is apparently why Emma gives in to Jack's dirty advances, who still holds out hope for an affair years after they've had sex once or twice. It's suggested that Gary is aware of the situation and yet is unable to help his partner because he needs her to work in boxing to keep the family afloat. Therefore, when Jack presents the plan to Emma, she tries in vain to ignore him and then immediately launches into negotiations.
Emma first asks for 20,000 euros and is then willing to accept 15,000, clearly hoping to get half of the athlete's money. However, when Jack remains firm on the amount of 10,000 and also mentions that the money will be paid only to the boxer, with the manager receiving nothing, Emma decides to profit from the situation indirectly. Despite Jack's firm assertion that he can't gamble, the woman orders Gary to immediately get the €20,000 someone owes them so they can bet the entire amount that Tony will be knocked out in the second round and go home with the jackpot. Although Emma is clearly trying to protect herself and her husband in this situation, she hides the whole matter from Tony and makes him believe that the situation would have been different had it been in his hands. But Tony eventually discovers that his own manager has placed a bet against him, which is a betrayal of the protagonist.
Tony has been selected to fight a rookie boxer, Vicious Vicki, who is about to make her debut in the arena, yet he has the opportunity to participate in a fight that will be broadcast live. This is solely because Vicki is related to the Dempsey family, who have great influence over the Casey brothers. It is mentioned that the Dempseys even helped Micko avoid jail in the past. Therefore, the family wants Vicki to have a promising start to her career, and Jack must live up to that demand. When Vicki arrives in the locker room and sees her opponent for the first time, she comes across as incredibly arrogant and cocky, a confidence that seems to stem not only from her belief in her abilities but also from being a popular TikTok star at such a young age.
However, Swing Bout also offers us a quiet glimpse into the emotionally overwhelming demands of the world of contact sports, where not everything is as it seems from the outside. When Vicki has some time alone with her father, who is also her coach and manager, she can't help but break down. Vicki is genuinely afraid of fighting Tony and just wants to quit the fight and go home. She fears the extreme physical pain the fight will cause her, as she hasn't been told about the match-fixing, as that would make it obvious to everyone. It's clear that Vicki's tough exterior stems from her belonging to a family of strong men who seemingly resort to violence in any situation. Despite his state of terror, his father doesn't grant his wish, making it clear that the narrative of his life is not under his control.
At the beginning of the film, Micko Casey is already in a foul mood, as his wife, Gina, has practically filed for divorce, but his night gets even worse when he becomes embroiled in legal trouble. Two police detectives visit the stadium to speak with him, and they tell us how he typically conducts his business. Earlier, Micko had hired a handyman named Tom Wheelan and paid him €125,000 upfront, in cash, for some repairs to his property.
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