Mispelled the headline - baLboa
Rocky Balboa was based on a fighter named Chuck Wepner.
Sylvestor Stallone attended a fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, and Chuck was basically a no skill fighter going up against the best boxer of the time, Muhammad Ali (Apollo Creed). Chuck got beaten up the whole time by Ali, but he kep coming and he didnt give up, and actually scored a flash knockdown against Ali.
Its where Stallone came up with the idea of Rocky, based on Chuck Wepner. Apollo Creed is obviously Muhammad Ali, the loud mouth cocky over confident boxer...
Only the character is based on a real person, the rest of the story is all bullshit... Chuck Wepner actually tried to sue Stallone because he stole the idea from him (him being the actual idea) but Chuck didnt get anywhere with the lawsuit.
Youtube the fight I cant embed it.
Chuck Wepner had never been down in his entire career... not one time did he ever hit the canvas. He continued to call Ali by his birth name (Casius Clay) and Ali also said he had called him a n*gger... they didnt't like each other at all.
Ali Knocked him out in the 15th round.
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Wepner served as the inspiration for the character of Rocky Balboa in the film Rocky. In 2003, Wepner filed a lawsuit against Sylvester Stallone for money supposedly owed to him for the Rocky movies. He has claimed that Stallone has used Wepner's name numerous times without permission when he talks about the inspiration for Rocky Balboa. Two of his other claims were dismissed by U.S. District Court judges, and Sylvester Stallone settled the latest claim out of court for an undisclosed amount. In a published interview by Jim Clash of Forbes, Wepner got a question about his thoughts on Stallone. Wepner said he thought Stallone was a great actor and writer, and that he still considers Stallone a friend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Wepner#The_.22Real.22_Rocky
and for anyone with smart ass remarks
I was merely responding to this comment...
I always thought Rocky was a fictional character? Did Rocky Balboa actually exist? News to me.
I read that in this thread
http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171400&highlight=cotto
So I figured well, maybe not everyone knows this piece of info... So I made a thread about it...
Thanks.
ah man alot of stupid comments in this thread lol can people stop repeating that chuck was based on balboa and ali was based on creed? its gettin annoyin since he said it in the first post why do u need to post it over and over again.
upon further review the kd was bullshit
The KD was legit, but Wepner wasn't that good.
I don't see how anyone can seriously doubt the KD, Ali is pulling back straight and gets hit on the way out. His momentum brought him down.
It doesn't really matter where his feet were, and anyway you can't tell anything about the feet from the TV shot.
Mason Dixon.
Exhibition fight.
Stallone knows boxing history pretty well, so it would be strange if he made an error like that.
Was it 22 or 23 losses going into that fight?
I have to see that movie again
I thought the commentator in part 1 said "and he's lost 20 times".
Loss #21 would be the first fight with Creed, and loss #22 would be the first fight with Lang, where's loss #23?
Or if it was 22 losses throughout Rocky 1, then Balboa-Creed I is loss #23, and Balboa-Lang I is loss #24.
Mason Dixon.
Fictional characters doesn't mean you're not inspired or at least partially based on real life people.
Examples:
Vito Corleone was inspired by Carlo Gambino.
Nino Brown was inspired by Felix Mitchell and the Chambers Brothers.
Think before making a thread about one of the biggest boxing movies ever in a boxing forum, a big one at that. haha. Wrong move. As if alot of us didnt know that.I mean shit, that movie I think came out in 76':lol1:
Alright no need to be a prick... I was merely responding to this comment...
I always thought Rocky was a fictional character? Did Rocky Balboa actually exist? News to me.
I read that in this thread
http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171400&highlight=cotto
So I figured well, maybe not everyone knows this piece of info... So I made a thread about it...
Thanks.
The Balboa/Wepner thing is the only one I've heard verified, but other parts were probably based on real people as well.
In part 3, with Rocky being protected and his manager/trainer refusing to fight Lang, and Rocky eventually insisting on it, that's similar to Patterson/Cus/Liston. Getting too popular and losing hunger can be any fighter, I think Stallone had Dempsey in mind with that one.
The scene in part 5 where Rocky has a flashback on Mickey saying "I'd be dead without you, but with you, I've got reason to live" is VERY similar to an interview Cus had when Mike was a teenage amateur, wearing some stupid hat.
It was a techinical error in the script for that 1 line. But the whole Rocky storyline was based on him being a bum fighter with only a slightly above .500 record. Then was given the chance of a lifetime to be given a title shot against the world heavyweight champion as a late replacement. Several times in the 1st movie it mentioned him having 22loses before the line you mentioned. Then adding a 23rd loss in rockyIII when he lost to Mr. T. So statistically the storyline was correct throughout all 6 films. You just have to pretend you heard that line right to make sense.
I thought the commentator in part 1 said "and he's lost 20 times".
Loss #21 would be the first fight with Creed, and loss #22 would be the first fight with Lang, where's loss #23?
Or if it was 22 losses throughout Rocky 1, then Balboa-Creed I is loss #23, and Balboa-Lang I is loss #24.
The utilization of the HBO crew and Tarver gave it a good realistic dimension.
what do you mean REALISTIC DIMENSION!!!
it is real, rocky is real, its a documentary series.
I just saw the newest Rocky the other day. Opinions? I thought when it wasn't gettin all relationshipy and actually focused on the fight game aspect it was pretty good. The utilization of the HBO crew and Tarver gave it a good realistic dimension. Also, during the intros they showed Rock's record and it said he lost like 20+ bouts. Didn't know Rock took so many defeats.
Edit: lol, post above me answered my last question.
naw, man you did good, this is information, that's what these forums are for.
since we talking about rocky movies, i noticed a little detail. in the first movie, when he enters the ring to fight appolo, one of the announcers talks about the fighter's record and mention's rockys', and i believe he said that rocky only had 2 losses.
in rocky balboa when buffer calls out his record he had like near 20 losses on his record. how the hell did balboa loose so many fights considering that after his rematch with creed he did so well for himself:D
i guess sly missed that one huh, small technical error in the script. in the first fight we had an underdog, in the final movie we had one BIG ASS underdog lol
anyone else notice it??
It was a techinical error in the script for that 1 line. But the whole Rocky storyline was based on him being a bum fighter with only a slightly above .500 record. Then was given the chance of a lifetime to be given a title shot against the world heavyweight champion as a late replacement. Several times in the 1st movie it mentioned him having 22loses before the line you mentioned. Then adding a 23rd loss in rockyIII when he lost to Mr. T. So statistically the storyline was correct throughout all 6 films. You just have to pretend you heard that line right to make sense.
Not everyone knows...
Matter of fact in the cotto gomez buildup 3 thread, there were people saying Rocky was a fictional character.
So..........
I thought this was common knowledge and everyone knew all this already. Just on a side note though: The fight with Ali was the dirtiest, rattiest piece of crap from a 'pro' fighter I think I've ever witnessed! Wepner should have been disqualified about ten times over as well as Ali for retaliation! How Stallone or whoever got inspired by that piece of complete crap is just simply beyond me.:puppy_dog
I guess I can understand admiring his determination but everything else about him made me despise the guy. There have been a million and one guys ten times more deserving of admiration and inspiration, especially for a blockbuster movie, than him.
Edit: Whoops, just read the above posts. Don't worry Reed, not trying to sound like a prick by pointing that out again. Didn't read the posts first. There are probably many, many folks that don't know and would like to. I know it will make a whole lot of people go and watch that fight between them :)
Alright no need to be a prick... I was merely responding to this comment...
I read that in this thread
http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171400&highlight=cotto
So I figured well, maybe not everyone knows this piece of info... So I made a thread about it...
Thanks.
naw, man you did good, this is information, that's what these forums are for.
since we talking about rocky movies, i noticed a little detail. in the first movie, when he enters the ring to fight appolo, one of the announcers talks about the fighter's record and mention's rockys', and i believe he said that rocky only had 2 losses.
in rocky balboa when buffer calls out his record he had like near 20 losses on his record. how the hell did balboa loose so many fights considering that after his rematch with creed he did so well for himself:D
i guess sly missed that one huh, small technical error in the script. in the first fight we had an underdog, in the final movie we had one BIG ASS underdog lol
anyone else notice it??