LOS ANGELES: Meg Ryan knew nothing about prize-fighting before playing boxing manager Jackie Kallen in her new film, ‘Against the Ropes’.

Now, the 42-year-old actress says she’s in love with the sport. “There’s something so pure... so unadulterated about what happens in the ring. There’re no helmets, there’re no masks. There’s no ball, there’s no goal way over there. There’re just these two guys honestly in there in the most fierce kind of competition,” Ryan told reporters. “And I couldn’t help but appreciate that kind of purity.”

In ‘Against the Ropes’, based on a true story, Kallen transforms street thug Luther Shaw, played by Omar Epps, into a fighter.

“I found a lot of parallels between the boxing world and Hollywood. And how they treat women,” Ryan said. “How they’re very happy to underestimate you. How they’re happy to label you because you look a certain way. So there were a lot of parallels that way, too.” — AP