Right to Fight

Get in the ring and throw down with this hard-hitting chronicle of the women who deserve to be household names—Cathy “Cat” Davis, Marian “Lady Tyger” Trimiar, Pat “Liberation” Pineda—as they dominated women’s boxing in the early 1970s, while simultaneously fighting the patriarchy that reigned over the sport. From BAFTA-winning filmmaker Georgina Cammalleri.In the early 1970s, girls across the country dreamed of one day stepping into the ring at Madison Square Garden. Their biggest opponent? The New York State Athletic Commission, which deemed it illegal for women to box and refused to allow the sport to grow beyond the punching bags of these aspiring young boxers. Add a one-two punch of vile sexism and blatant racism, paired with the corruption of show business, and these relentless women were in the fight of their lives to make professional women’s boxing a reality. Featuring archival footage and candid interviews with the women who founded the sport, including Marian “Lady Tyger” Trimiar, Cathy “Cat” Davis, and Pat “Liberation” Pineda, RIGHT TO FIGHT brings audiences ringside for the jaw-dropping history of women’s boxing. Hailing from diverse backgrounds and driven by different motivators, these first fighters ultimately shared the same unifying ambition: Let the girls fight. —A.B.