“She’s how I got my concussion.”
The actor said: “It was such an exhilarating feeling. In between takes, I’d be like, ‘I think I won that round!’”
Sweeney previously said she was able to identify with Martin, who fought professionally between 1989 and 2011 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020, because they had been through similar struggles.
As she accepted an award at Variety’s Power of Women event in California last month, Sweeney said: “I’m not a fighter in the ring, but I recognise something of myself in [Christy Martin].
“I know what it feels like to be underestimated, to have people define you before you’ve had a chance to define yourself. I know what it feels like to have to prove that you deserve to be here, to be seen, to be taken seriously.
“But every one of us has our own fight, and Christy reminds us all that strength doesn’t look loud sometimes, and sometimes it’s just about getting back up again and again, no matter who’s watching.
“Playing [Christy] taught me that surviving isn’t the end of the story. It is the beginning of reclaiming it.
“And to every young girl out there, I hope that you know that your power is already within you. You don’t have to wait for permission to be brave.
“You don’t have to shrink yourself to make others comfortable. And if you fall, you can just get right back up.”
