In the sport of boxing, she’s a real heavyweight

A 57-year-old grandmother of two the subject of a movie about boxing? Sounds rather lightweight, maybe, until you figure this in: Jackie Kallen was the manager of four world champion boxers. Jackie Kallen, a.k.a. “The First Lady of Boxing,” has guided the careers of renowned ringmeisters such as Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns and James “Lights Out” Toney.

Now her own life and craft for 25 years, or a version thereof, take center ring in “Against the Ropes,” starring Meg Ryan, which opened Friday.

“Standing in the middle of a boxing ring with your fighter,” Kallen says, “when the announcer says: ‘The winner -- and NEW champion!’ is the greatest feeling in the world. Not quite the same as the moment of giving birth, but close.”

Which brings to mind two thoughts: How many grandmas can say that, and what’s a nice yenta like Kallen doing in the middle of a prizefight? Kallen, an entertainment journalist in Detroit for 20 years (had the Rolling Stones over for dinner, among others), got an assignment to interview Hearns in Las Vegas in 1978. Pow! She was hooked, spending the next 10 years working at Detroit’s famous Kronk Gym for its boxing team. (Coincidentally, Kallen’s stepgrandmother taught “the Brown Bomber” Joe Louis in Detroit.) Kallen’s talents included finding a unique way of soothing the stress of big-fight jitters: She played Scrabble with her boxers (and with trainers and cornermen too).

Even though she’s now playing Scrabble to ease pre-movie jitters, the woman twice nominated as boxing manager of the year by the Boxing Writers of America insists “Ropes” is not really her life. Inspired by, she says, is not only one step from based upon, but more than two steps away from a biopic like “A Beautiful Mind.”

“It’s only a slice,” Kallen says. “All part of the world of make-believe.”

Originally developed in 1992, it was delayed “for reasons that are all Hollywood-ish. Wrong script, director problems, producer changing studios. It went into turnaround and then got picked up by two producers at Paramount. They sent me out to meet with prospective screenwriters. Cheryl Edwards was the one writer whom I immediately adored and I knew she’d get that world.”

Ryan told Kallen that the actress wanted this to be her “Erin Brockovich,” a chance to really prove herself. Directed by Charles S. Dutton, who also appears as a trainer, the movie features Tony Shalhoub as a mob-style promoter and Omar Epps as Luther Shaw, a composite of Kallen’s finest forces of nature.

“Meg really captured the Jewish mother part of my job,” says Kallen, who adds that managing a fighter is a lot like being a Jewish mother. Ryan/Kallen must find her protege an apartment, cook for him, keep his scrapbooks, take care of grooming, girlfriends, galoshes, you name it. “Meg went to gyms and fights with me,” Kallen says. “She did a lot of research. I give her so much credit. She was me, or that character, for three months.”

“What Meg gets right about my life,” Kallen says, sounding more relieved than immodest, “is the spirit, the perseverance, the tenacity, the ability to forge a career in an area where there aren’t any women.”

“Welcome to my world,” Kallen says, floating into her Beverly Hills lair, a comfortable riot of overstuffed black couches and zebra-style rugs, ringed by large ceramic cheetahs and other predators. “It’s rather primal,” she says, “like boxing.”

“Primitive ballet,” is how she describes her sport. And herself? A “marshmallow.” In the den around her hang memories and triumphs: a championship belt, signed gloves and boxing silks, photos of Jackie taken with Ali, Sinatra and Trump.

She also just signed a new fighter, junior-middleweight Mohamad Ali Diab. “He’s an Arab -- managed by a Jew. I think together we can solve the problem of peace in the Mideast,” she jokes.

Married at 20, divorced at 50, Kallen thinks her ex “was very tolerant. I probably put him through a real whirlwind.” She describes a scene: “Poor husband comes home tired from working hard and there’s rap music blasting in our house, the thump-thump of the bass, there’s guys outside shooting hoops, and large, black pugilists lying on the couch.”

Hollywood has Meg Ryan’s hair distinctively streaky and long like Kallen’s, her voice sultry, her necklines low and her skirts short. But what Hollywood doesn’t show is the family side. Ryan’s corner gal is single.

“They don’t show how blessed I am with my children and their wonderful spouses,” Kallen says. “Nor the sacrifices and dilemmas I faced. Managing is so hands-on, like marriage.”

Hearns, six-time world champ and her first protege, used to vacation with Kallen’s family.

Hearns wrote the introduction to Kallen’s 1997 book, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (St. Martin’s Press), just out in paperback. A “fight plan” presented as 12 rounds instead of chapters, the book helps her lead motivational seminars. One round shows how to “get the right people in your corner,” another how -- quoting Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa -- “there ain’t gonna be no rematch” in this bout.

How can we get ourselves up off the canvas and fill it in with more life? Kallen teaches three key components: “Heart, talent and the right training habits to develop a positive lifestyle.”

“Never embrace victimhood,” she advises. “Embrace your own abilities, because everyone has something that somebody else would kill for. I’ve had the kind of life where I’ve really enjoyed every minute.” After facing her own battles against cancer and heart disease, Kallen says, “So far, I have always managed to get back up and continue the fight. I have a good chin.”

Does her new main event have a happy ending?

“It’s not the ending that you would’ve thought at the beginning of the movie perhaps,” Kallen confesses. “It’s a good boxing metaphor. And a great life metaphor. But then again, any movie that doesn’t end with the main character dead is a comedy in my book.”