A Boxer Rises

In 2014, Susan Hartman and Vincent Cianni, a documentary photographer and author of We Skate Hardcore, collaborated on a story for the New York Times about Heather Hardy, a professional boxer. Heather had been through a lot:  A painful divorce.  An apartment fire.  Her parents’ house, where she lived, was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

But after years of struggle, Ms. Hardy was a rising force in professional boxing—and a source of pride in Gerritsen Beach, the tightknit Brooklyn neighborhood where her family’s roots stretch back six generations.