50 YEARS OF ROCKY
title had not been held by a white man since Ingemar Johansson lost it to Floyd Patterson in 1960. That the white Rocky Balboa was pitted against the showboating Black champ Apollo Creed – a clear Muhammad Ali stand-in – could be seen in this context. That Rocky and Apollo eventually become best friends, and that Weathers’ performance as Creed is one of the finest things about the film, do stand in opposition to this idea. But Ali, after seeing Balboa triumph at the end of Rocky II , did not mince his words when he told film critic Ebert: “For the Black man to come out superior would be against America’s teachings. I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring.” Although perhaps unintentional, the Rocky films seemed to have brought out a certain cultural undercurrent that has always existed in boxing – and in society. This historical sticking point –
the search for the so-called “Great White Hope” to take the title – emerged from the mists of a deeply racist past. And its specter would haunt boxing for decades to come. Shrewd promoters – of all races – could use it to tap into the public’s most tribalistic impulses, as they did in 1982 when white fighter Gerry Cooney unsuccessfully challenged champion Larry Holmes for the title. The cover of Time magazine even featured side- by-side images of Cooney and Stallone in his Rocky gear, seeming to lean into the old cliches. On the night of the anticipated fight in Las Vegas, police sharpshooters were placed on the roof of Caesars Palace, fearing reactionary forces on both sides of the divide would lead to violence. (Both the Ku Klux Klan and Black nationalists had threatened the boxers.) Thankfully, nothing happened. Neither Cooney nor Holmes had any sense of animus toward each other, and they disliked the way the
public had built up their clash. As with Stallone and the Rocky films, their own intentions could sometimes be overlooked while the press and the public gave them a different meaning. Since 2015, the success of the Creed spin-off films starring Michael B. Jordan has offered a fascinating corrective to this story. As writer/ director Ryan Coogler explained: “Growing up, the first time I saw Rocky , I rooted for Rocky and I rooted for Apollo. I didn’t want either one of them to lose. My dad’s favorite movie was Rocky II , which was the one when Apollo loses. You’ve got that moment when they both go down. They’re cutting to Apollo’s wife; they’re cutting to Adrian. For me, I wanted them both to get up at the same time. Sometimes I found myself cheering for Apollo, because that was what I related to.” Over the years – as the Rocky franchise’s fortunes waxed and waned just as much as boxing seemed to – Stallone continued to invest in the sport. His promotions company, Tiger Eye Ltd, paired with The Sands Hotel and Casino in the early 1980s, and his stable included promising heavyweight contender Jeff Sims, former fellow actor Lee Canalito and two-time junior welterweight champ Aaron Pryor. Throughout his work on the Rocky series, Stallone has also remained deeply faithful to hiring within boxing and its community. Throughout his work on the Rocky films – four of which he has directed – he has regularly pulled from the ranks of its trainers, luminaries and fighters for guidance and for roles onscreen. For fight training and choreography, Stallone turned to ex-boxer and stuntman Sonny Shields, as well as Ray Notaro, who sculpted the actor with strict
protein diets, rope-skipping and other key training regimens. Some giants of the ring also came to aid the Italian Stallion over the years. Stallone invited sparring sessions with the likes of Roberto Duran and heavy-hitter Earnie Shavers (“He hit me on the elbow and knocked my wind out,” Sly said). In front of the camera, cameos and supporting roles would crop up for a variety of other fighters, too: most notably, perhaps, a small cameo for the real Philadelphia king: Smokin’ Joe Frazier. Tommy Morrison, as Tommy Gunn, was not in the most critically celebrated of the series (the maligned Rocky V ), but he pointed out something salient about this movie: It tried to show what was going on in boxing at the time, even if in a heightened manner. As Morrison said, “There’s a strong message there for the people who know how the boxing business works. [Don] King and [Mike] Tyson will know exactly what’s being said.” This combination of real boxing insight, earnest storytelling and devotion to the fight world itself has carried the Rocky franchise far beyond its detractors. Stallone, inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011, said this in his acceptance speech: “I’ve never pretended to be a boxer. I don’t possess those skills. What I do think I have is an understanding of what goes on outside the ring. Outside the ring is sometimes maybe an even bigger struggle than what goes on inside the ring, and I was able to capture that.” That seems undeniably true. Balboa, the slaughterhouse worker from Philly who never “had no prime” found his way into our collective hearts – and into the Boxing Hall of Fame – for that reason. Film critic Pauline Kael, back in 1976, had it best when she wrote: “The innocence that makes this picture so winning emanates from Sylvester Stallone. It’s a street-wise, flowers- blooming-in-the-garbage innocence. Stallone plays a waif, a strong- arm man who doesn’t want to hurt anybody. [...] His unworldliness makes
Real humanity was more important to Stallone than ring realism.
him seem dumb, but we know better; we understand what he feels at every moment. Rocky is the embodiment of the out-of-fashion pure-at-heart.” And it takes a curious purity of heart to brave the ring, as any fighter will know. To return to former Ring editor Collins, back in 1986: “While some hardcore boxing buffs may resent the fact that America’s best-known fighter is an actor, let’s try to appreciate the irony of the situation. Pablo Picasso once said: “Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.” So it is with
Rocky and its sequels. Some of the things depicted in Rocky – endless clobberings and hospital recoveries, ageless fighting spirit, opponents as evil villains – may be over the top. But they are underscored by the spiritual truth and fighting spirit that has made Rocky the classic that it is.
Stallone flanked by Carl Weathers and Creed star Michael B. Jordan.
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