Southpaw

From Rocky to Raging Bull, the legacy of boxing on the big screen makes it almost intimidating for a newcomer like Southpaw to find a spot on the undercard.

Yet while it won’t become a cinematic champion like those predecessors, it’s at least a contender thanks to a fully committed performance by Jake Gyllenhaal and vivid fight scenes that practically allow you feel the pugilistic blood and sweat.

Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope, a prize fighter whose career includes plenty of highs — fame, fortune, loyal wife (Rachel McAdams), celebrity status, championship belts — and lows, the latter coming when a family tragedy leaves him a broken man, victimized by the sport and its shady operators.

Billy is known for his brash ability to fight through adversity in the ring, as his frequently bruised and bloodied face can attest. Yet the resulting downward spiral of grief and guilt exposes his most violent instincts and he loses everything.

As with many fighters, ego and competitiveness tend to rule over common sense, so he sees a return to the ring as the key to piecing his family back together. So he enlists the help of a disenfranchised gym operator (Forest Whitaker), who reluctantly agrees to become his new trainer without much expectation for a return to glory, let alone a title shot.

Gyllenhaal — who obviously spent plenty of time bulking up for the role — maintains a level of bravado and charisma even as his character takes a physical and mental beating. Meanwhile, Whitaker brings depth to a standard role as the wise old sage. And Eminem (who originally was tabbed to star) makes a couple of solid contributions to the soundtrack.

The film has energy and intensity to spare as it strives for authenticity both in and out of the ring. Yet by this time, it’s not exactly a revelation for the screenplay by Kurt Sutter (TV’s “Sons of Anarchy”) to portray the sport as driven by greed, thuggery, corruption, and shifting loyalties.

That familiar territory is spiced up by the gritty approach from director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) to the obligatory training montages and underdog big-fight finale. The result is a crowd-pleaser that battles its own predictability more than anything else.

Amid the exaggerations and contrivances, there’s an intriguing character study that packs an emotional punch. Still, Southpaw is more of a split decision than a knockout.

Rated R, 123 minutes.