Another movie about boxing? But The Fighter adds something to the fray

Honestly, how many movies do we need about boxing? It seems we get one every year. Maybe it's an absurd question, like asking how many movies we need about war, or about love, but it does seem that boxing is over-exposed - that there's some kind of innate synergy between film and the ring: immediate and dramatic conflict, easy to film and capture in a tight space, the obvious dramatic arc of a rising (and falling) champion, the alluring overtones of big-money glitz and back-alley street toughness, mob and business pressures, family dynamics, sometimes also racism - you can go through all the movies, from Requiem, to Waterfront, to Rocky, to Million-Dollar, maybe throw in The Wrestler, and dozens in between - so with all that I wondered what "The Fighter" could possibly add to the fray - and found the movie surprisingly good and original. Of course it touches on every one of the tropes I listed above: story of a tough kid from Lowell (Micky Ward, played well by Mark Wahlberg - who would have guessed when he was a Backstreet Markie-Mark that he'd develop into such a talented actor?), coached by his half-crazy half brother into a long-shot march toward the welterweight crown. The movie adds some great elements: first of all, it's based on a true life story (we see the actual family members in a credits clip); second, it's mostly about the difficult and complex relation between Ward and his brother, Dick (played very well by Christian Bale); third, Ward's tough mother who's like the worst of a stage mom, plays a key role. Movie seems to be filmed on the streets of Lowell with a real documentary style, and very much captures what feels like the daily life of the struggling fighter. It's not the most original movie ever made about boxing but it's one of the most credible.