Sydney Sweeney Unrecognizable in New Photo as Boxer Christy Martin

Sydney Sweeney got into character in the first official photo of the actress as Christy Martin.

Sweeney, 27, will be portraying the former professional boxer in the upcoming biopic titled Christy. In the photo, the Euphoria actress donned a brown wig with a white tank top and boxing shorts. She stood in the boxing ring with a pair of boxing gloves on her hands, flashing a white mouthpiece, seemingly ready to fight.

Christy, directed by David Michôd, will depict “the unbelievable true story of formidable Christy Martin, who rose to fame as America’s most successful female boxer in the 1990s. A naturally gifted fighter, Christy’s life transformed in 1989 when she met her manager, and later husband, Jim Martin,” per the film’s official synopsis.

The logline continues, “Breaking boundaries, she became the first woman to sign with iconic promoter Don King, and the only female boxer to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Christy’s charisma, good looks and unwavering resilience in the ring won her a wide fan base and propelled her to become welterweight champion. Behind this well-honed public persona, Christy tackled personal demons, toxic relationships and an attempt on her life, proving that a fighter’s hardest won victories aren’t always in the ring.”

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To prepare for the role, Sweeney revealed that she gained more than 30 pounds.

“I loved it,” she told W Magazine in June of her body transformation. “I came onboard to play Christy, and I had about three and a half months of training. I started eating. I weight-trained in the morning for an hour, kickboxed midday for about two hours, and then weight-trained again at night for an hour.”

Sweeney continued, “My body was completely different. I didn’t fit in any of my clothes. 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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Michôd told the outlet that the movie will be “a wild mix of inspiring underdog sports-world story and personal saga.”

“Sydney trained her butt off to play the part,” he noted. “The beauty of Sydney is that she turned up to work every day with her tail wagging, ready to go. No matter how tough it was, she was like a ray of sunshine.”

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When it was first announced that Sweeney was cast as Martin, 57, in May 2024, the retired athlete showed her support for the actress. Martin told TMZ she was looking forward to seeing Sweeney’s depiction and also hoped the film would accurately portray the ups and downs of her life.

“I want this movie to bring awareness to domestic violence, the challenge of sexuality and overall underdog story,” she told the outlet at the time. “I am a coal miner’s daughter from a small town in southern West Virginia that made an impact in a sport that wasn’t taken seriously — women’s boxing.”