In the 1930s, boxer Barney Ross wins the welterweight championship, then meets chorus girl Cathy Holland as he celebrates.

He marries Cathy before leaving for the South Pacific, where he saves another soldier's life at Guadalcanal to earn the Silver Star.

Back home in Chicago, Barney takes a job with a public-relations firm by the father of the man whose life he saved.

Film rights to Barney Ross's story were bought in July 1955 by Imperial Pictures, a company owned by Edward Small.

[2] The Motion Picture Association of America demanded the removal of a scene in which Barney inserts a hypodermic needle into his arm.