It’s not often that the Academy Awards have much to say about boxing. When a boxing flick is as good as The Fighter, though, people are bound to notice, making it no surprise that it was nominated for seven Oscars at the 83^rd Academy Awards. Those include Best Picture, Best Director (David O. Russell), and Best Supporting Actor/Actress nominations for Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. The Fighter is based on the true story of half-brothers Mickey Ward and Dicky Eklund. Eklund was a New England Welterweight Champion who fought against Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978. After Eklund’s fighting career ended in 1985, he trained Ward for 26 fights, leading up to Ward’s first retirement in 1991. Eklund later helped to convince Ward to return to the sport, even as he himself fought a battle with drug addiction.In the film, Mark Wahlberg plays Micky Ward, while Christian Bale plays Eklund. Ward was frequently on set, as Wahlberg wanted to learn to mimic his habits and personality. Wahlberg also did his own fight scenes (almost suffering a broken nose at several points) and doing an extensive training regimen. Boxing trainer Freddie Roach served as Wahlberg’s personal trainer, and Manny Pacquiao also offered assistance.Ward is perhaps best known for his trilogy of fights against Arturo Gatti. Ward won the first match in a ninth-round knockdown, which was named 2002 fight of the year by Ring magazine and landed both fighters in trauma care. The two agreed to a rematch, in which Ward was knocked down in the third round but still finished the fight. In 2003, the two fighters met again. Despite a sixth-round knockdown by Ward, Gatti managed to win the fight, although both ended up again in the hospital. This fight was Ring magazine’s 2003 fight of the year.Bale, instead of bulking up, had to lose weight to play the struggling Eklunda task he’d previously accomplish for the 2003 film The Machinist, where he lost 63 pounds. Bale also met with the real-life Eklund, who was reportedly impressed by Bale’s dedication.The director, David O. Russell, had previously been known for off-beat comedies like Flirting with Disaster and I <3 Huckabees, although he also directed the action-comedy Three Kings. The Fighter is a blend of brutal fight scenes and equally brutal emotional drama, following up on the director’s themes while also introducing new elements. For any fan of boxing or cinema, it’s well worth a look, as its Academy Awards nominations have shown.