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.
Though he's one of the most iconic boxers of all time, Rocky's Rocky Balboa wouldn't necessarily fare so well against real-life modern heavyweight champions. Since his first appearance in his eponymous 1976 sports drama classic, Rocky has become one of the most well-known boxers, despite being entirely fictional.
Sylvester Stallone has admitted he's been in “many” fights in his life, but one stands out in particular as his “Rocky moment”. While the 76-year-old actor may give off a “don't mess with me” vibe, it hasn't always been that way, he said.
However, he is known for his raw strength and determination, which allows him to go the distance with the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed. After the success of the first film, subsequent movies in the Rocky series shifted the focus away from Rocky's underdog status and towards his rise to becoming a boxing legend.
Chuck Wepner: I was born in New York, and moved later to Bayonne [New Jersey]. It was a rough town, blue-collar, with a lot of mob influence. Each part of town had its own tough guy. Through the years, I ended up fighting three of them, and beat them all.
While the boxing matches are inspiring, bloody, and well-filmed, they aren't nearly as accurate as the fights in other movies, like the one at the end of Raging Bull. This pattern of unrealistic fights is true for almost every boxing match throughout the Rocky and Creed movies, except one.
The Famous Fight That Inspired Rocky. In 1975, the Jersey Journal made another huge announcement: Muhammad Ali was set to defend his title against Chuck Wepner. It was exciting news for boxing fans and even more so for the locals in Jersey. But it was probably most exciting — and surprising — for Chuck Wepner.
Ivan Drago: Drago was a Soviet boxer who was trained to be a killing machine. He was incredibly strong and had a powerful punch. Rocky faced Drago in a 15-round fight in Rocky IV, and it was one of the most brutal fights in boxing history.
Rocky was an all-or-nothing brawler coming into his first bout with Creed; however, under the training of Mickey, he began to develop his boxing skills which he eventually mastered. During his reign as world champion, he became a class hybrid fighter, possessing the qualities of an inside fighter, brawler, and swarmer.
"Rocky," which won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1976, has often been lauded for its gritty realism, both in and out of the ring. The movie showed Philadelphia at the depth of bleak decrepitude during the 1970s. It also displayed an ambitious fighter's harsh training and, from up close, the brutality of the sport.
Sylvester Stallone decided that for the shooting of the fight, he and Dolph Lundgren should hit one another for real, so as to increase the intensity of the scene.
Rocky (1976) - Rocky takes place between November 1975 and January 1, 1976, which was the date of the first Creed vs. Balboa fight to celebrate America's Bicentennial. Rocky was said to be 30 the first time he faced Apollo Creed and he lost the fight in a split decision after going the full 15 rounds with the champ.
Sylvester Stallone is a formidable action hero known for his tough-guy persona. From Rocky to The Expendables franchise, the star has been part of numerous action franchises and movies. Even his image in real life appears to be of a person that one might never want to mess with.
According to Stallone, these were his weights for each of the first four Rocky movies: Rocky I: 178 pounds. Rocky II: 200 pounds. Rocky III: 166 pounds.
*Note: The fight with Tommy Gunn is not recognized, as it is a street fight, and therefore, illegal—but Rocky shows him who the real champ is. Height: 5 ft., 10 in. Weight: 210 lb. Reach: 74 in.
Immediately iconic after his very first appearance, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa has since cemented a place in movie history as one of the most inspirational characters of all time thanks to his boxing exploits. However, despite all that, Rocky's not actually a particularly gifted boxer.
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.
By the time Donnie meets Rocky in Creed, he's been funneling all his money into the restaurant he named after Adrian. As a result, he only has just enough to get by, and can't live the extravagant way he did in the past.
Considering everything mentioned above, Rocky Balboa would clearly be victorious, as his career is currently completely unmatched by Adonis. Rocky's fighting style is also superior to Creed's, most notably his almost superhuman ability to take a beating and keep moving forward.
I mean, just listen to these tales from the Rocky series Sylvester Stallone recounted Monday night with Jimmy Fallon. In order to give some scenes that extra hint of realism, Stallone, not an actual boxer, agreed to take some actual punches to the face.
Now, you're wondering whether or not Rocky was based on a real person. The answer is yes and no: while this film focuses on fictional characters like Rocky Balboa and his opponent Apollo Creed, it was inspired by the life of real-life boxer and former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano.
The Rocky Statue — a larger-than-life boxer — is one of Philadelphia's most famous pieces of public art. The fictional Rocky Balboa of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movies was immortalized in bronze by artist A. Thomas Schomberg in 1980 for a scene in the film Rocky III.
