The Champion is a 1915 American silent comedy film released by Essanay Studios, starring Charlie Chaplin alongside Edna Purviance and Leo White.

Essanay co-owner and star, Broncho Billy Anderson can be seen as an enthusiastic audience member in the boxing match scene.

Walking along a street with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes the training camp of an enormous fighter named Spike Dugan.

After watching other better fighters be soundly beaten by Dugan, Charlie decides his best bet is to put the horseshoe inside his boxing glove.

[3] The roots of The Champion go back to a Fred Karno troupe music hall sketch "The Football Match", in particular, the scene in which Leo White attempts to bribe the Tramp to throw the boxing match and the climatic fight evokes a Fred Karno troupe favourite, The Yap Yaps, as well as the Chaplin-Arbuckle Keystone short The Knockout.