This Friday’s “Undercard,” a mother-son boxing drama, is notable as the dramatic debut of the laugh-getting, Emmy-winning Wanda Sykes.

At 61, is this the culmination of a long-held dream?

“Absolutely not! I was not looking for a dramatic role. I wasn’t saying, ‘You know, I need that.’ No, not at all.”

So why then?

“The material,” Sykes said in a phone interview with director-producer and co-writer (with Anita M. Cal) Tamika Miller. “Tamika was just so strong-willed and so convincing that I could pull this off.

“When she approached me with the script my first question to her was, ‘So Queen Latifah said No?’ And she said, ‘I always had you in mind. I want you to do this. I believe you can do this.’

“She was so convincing. And again, I love the material. So I said, Let’s give it a shot.”

Sykes plays Cheryl “No Mercy” Stewart, a two-time former boxing champ and recovering alcoholic who coaches aspiring boxers. A lesbian with a tattoo artist girlfriend, she has custody of her niece, alongside money and homeless issues.

She reaches out to the 21-year-old son she abandoned, eager to coach him to a championship, only to be rebuffed. But success in sports is virtually defined by second chances and these two are both in need of another chance.

“It was Wanda’s fearlessness and determination as a woman comic in the male-dominated field of comedy,” Miller said, “that I wanted in this film.”

Still, with scheduling and financial backing it took a decade to get “No Mercy” Stewart on the big screen.

“Remember, I’ve never done a drama. It’s the lead role. Who,” Sykes asked, “is willing to roll the dice and fund this? Then it was scheduling: When was there a window to shoot it?

“I don’t know if I could have delivered this performance four years or six years ago. I think everything just lined up and it happened when it happened.”

There’s a romance in just saying Cheryl “No Mercy” Stewart. Where did that come from?

“That was born from the character,” Miller said. “I really wanted to paint Cheryl as someone who was merciless in the ring. A tremendous boxer, who was relentless, who would almost destroy her opponents, if you will. So no mercy was really born out of how I was painting Cheryl to be.”

“I look at it from the character’s point of view,” Sykes said. “She also felt like life wasn’t giving her mercy, as far as the situations she was in. She needed mercy from her son.

“Boxing, yes, was all about the ring and no mercy. But this part of her life, this chapter?

“She’s looking for mercy. And she knows she’s not getting it.”

“Undercard” opens Friday

“Undercard” is star Wanda Sykes’ first dramatic role. (Photo courtesy artist management)