While the story of his first film is loosely inspired by Chuck Wepner, a boxer who fought Muhammad Ali and lost on a TKO in the 15th round, the inspiration for the name, iconography and fighting style came from boxing legend Rocco Francis "Rocky Marciano" Marchegiano, though his surname coincidentally also resembles ...
In Reel Life: Rocky Balboa is a 30-year-old club fighter. In Real Life: Sylvester Stallone was inspired by Chuck Wepner, a 35-year-old club fighter who also happened to be the No. 8-ranked heavyweight in the world.
Chuck Wepner, the ham and egger professional boxer who nearly beat heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and thus inspired the Sylvester Stallone series of Rocky movies, was honored today with his own statute in his Bayonne, NJ hometown. Wepner was a game but limited fighter in his career.
Rocky IV was Lundgren's American film debut, and Stallone's last directorial effort until 2006; they engaged in authentic punching in their fight scenes, which led to Stallone being admitted to intensive care.
The Rocky franchise is known for featuring real-life boxers, and Creed III again adds several new boxers-turned-actors to the franchise. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Creed III! The Rocky franchise is known for featuring loads of real boxers, and Creed III continues this trend by featuring four real-life fighters.
It's actually one of the lesser-known ones. The Rocky franchise and its Creed spin-offs are known for their brutal final fights, with the main character always stepping into the ring with an absolute titan, but almost none of these fights are realistic.
Picks up right where "Rocky" left off, with Creed and Balboa heading to the hospital after the fight (accompanied by a jazzier, put-a-hop-in-your-step soundtrack). As it turns out, Rocky can't fight anymore, because of his damaged right eye (which mysteriously heals itself over the subsequent few years).
Drago is seen receiving intramuscular injections in the movie, implied to be anabolic steroids, though the actual nature of the injected solution is never explicitly stated; instead, Ludmilla, his wife, states as a joke that Drago is like Popeye and eats spinach every day.
In November 2021, while promoting his new director's cut of the movie, Stallone stated that he ended up in the ICU after Lundgren punched him in the chest during their climactic fight scene.
"At a theater in Los Angeles, struggling actor Sylvester Stallone watched the Ali-Wepner fight and promptly went home and banged out the script for a little movie called "Rocky." It wasn't based on a true story—not directly. But it was inspired by and borrowed heavily from a true story."
Rocky's doctor, Presley Jensen, reveals that Rocky is suffering from a condition called Cavum septi pellucidi, which is brain damage caused by extremely heavy blows to the head. The effects are seemingly permanent and irreversible.
The living legend didn't appear for straightforward reasons, as Sylvester Stallone opted out of Creed III for creative differences. Stallone earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor as Rocky in the first Creed and has served since as the mentor of Adonis "Donnie" Creed (Michael B.
The Prince of Punch. The One and Only. These were the titles bestowed to the greatest fighter in the Rocky movies, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world: Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Apollo is hands down the greatest boxer in the Rocky universe, and boxing pundits and fans would be cheering his name in support.
It is clear that Apollo Creed is the best boxer the Rocky or Creed movies have seen. Despite his over-confidence and showmanship, Apollo was not only a great world heavyweight champion, but he beat Rocky in their first encounter, lasting as much brutality as Rocky did.
Rocky had a legendarily tough jaw, able to withstand the pummeling that Ivan Drago meted out, who hit so hard that he actually killed former champion Apollo Creed in the ring in the first (correction: second) round.
As such, Drago trains himself for the event, even getting himself injected with steroids by his trainers Manuel Vega and Sergei Rimsky to intensify his strength. During the match, Drago seemed to have the upper hand, but Rocky manages to fight back, earning the respect of the Soviet audience.
For one thing, Drago's power was 1,850 pounds per square inch / psi. Let's say that Drago landed in and around fifty or so punches to the face at around 1,400psi throughout his fight with Rocky. The laws of physics dictate that Rocky would be dead by the end of the match. Just like Apollo Creed.
Drago, we learn, was actually using steroids. And while the juxtaposition of the Russian behemoth's syringe and Rocky's intrepid mountain climbing is supposed to imply that the latter is drug free, we know now that Sylvester Stallone (the actor who played Rocky) has dabbled in steroids as well.
Put simply, Burt Young didn't initially believe he would return to the role for a sequel and therefore felt no need to maintain a consistent figure. This led to Paulie looking much slimmer in Rocky II - something which Stallone even briefly alluded to in the script to acknowledge the change.
Mickey decides he wants the left-handed Rocky to learn to fight right-handed in order to better protect the eye, and to give him a surprise advantage by switching back to left-handed with the intention of throwing off Apollo's timing and confusing him.
The actor has long been galled by the fact that, as a young unknown in Hollywood, he signed a deal in which he gave up ownership of the “Rocky” franchise, which he created. (Stallone wrote the film.) Since at least 1976, Rocky's rights have been in the hands of producer Irwin Winkler.
While we do not see Rocky block punches he does clinch several times - his only defense. From a fighters standpoint their are two reasons Rocky is able to go the distance. Rocky blocked Creed's punches with his face. No, because that's the whole point of the movie.
From an insane asylum to a 1$ billion movie franchise
In the process, they accidentally severed a nerve which caused paralysis in parts of Stallone's face. That's how the actor got his snarling look and slurred speech, which would become his “signature” 30 years later in the first Rocky movie.
"If the fighters wore to remain upright Rocky would prevail," he said. "His body punches and right hooks would eventually beat Rambo… If the fight goes to the ground, Rambo will prevail. In a bloody brutal fight to the end...