David Raksin had worked as assistant to Leopold Stokowski on One Hundred Men and a Girl and showed his music for this Warner movie's boxing montage sequence to the conductor, who was impressed and asked Raksin to re-score it for his Philadelphia Orchestra. Stokowski premiered the 58 second "Montage" in Philadelphia in 1937, making it Raksin's first orchestral work to receive a concert performance.
Although this movie was basically completed in 1936 and reviewed under the title "Don't Pull Your Punches" in January 1937 by "The Motion Picture Herald" and "The Hollywood Reporter," it was released in 1938. The new title was probably due to the success of Kid Galahad, making it look like a sequel.