A tomato can legend!

[masterdirector]

Bobby Hitz? As in the fight fixer? Yeah, Czyz is ****ing awesome. He's working with the right guy there.

Paul Diver can make a comeback, I know he can.

[Zeomg]

Paul "the Loser" Diver retires - it's not a rumour any more. If you wanna know how the former champ said goodbye to his fans, take a (last?) visit at his site:
http://pauldiver.bravehost.com/

[joe kurtz]

hehe ok...

hey was Rocky (from the movie rocky) a tomato can or considered one before he fought apollo????
(i know that not on topic but hey its just a q)

To clarify, no the charecter of Rocky Balboa in ROCKY wasn't supposed to be a tomato can. He was supposed to be a faded, journeyman-type loosely based on former heavyweight contender Chuck Wepner. Unlike the charecter of Rocky though, Wepner was actually world rated at the time of his title opportunity against Ali in '75 & was coming off of a bit of a winning streak against some decent opposition.
In ROCKY though, the Balboa charecter was far from being rated & was considered to be washed up & going nowhere despite scoring an upset KO over a fighter named Spider in the film's opening scenes. But, after an injury caused Apollo Creed's originally scheduled opponent to pull out of their "Bicentenial Bash" in Philly, Creed elects to pick a local fighter to defend his championship against in a kind of publicity stunt.
Then, while searching through the RING record book, Creed picks Balboa based on his moniker of "The Italian Stallion".
Later, during the prefight introductions, the ring announcer lists Balboa's record as being 44 wins 20 losses.


Which, (if you're a freak for records like me, even fictional ones... ) based on:

- his L15 to Creed in ROCKY

- his KO15 over Creed in ROCKY II

- his 10 successful title defenses in the montage at the
begining of ROCKY III, followed by his two bouts with
Clubber Lang ( KO by 2, KO3 )

- Then his KO of Ivan Drago in ROCKY VI ...

Would leave the charecter of Rocky Balboa with a final
record of 57-22.
Not too shabby for a fighter who was supposedly washed up &
borderline "punchy in the first film & then had pretty much
lost his eyesight in one eye in the second!

[Zeomg]

As I see people were badly shaken by the legend's retirement...

[partee]

Hey, good calculation of Rocky's record. It always did seem strange that Rocky was supposedly washed up in Rocky I but then a great champion in III, IV & V
Any real life comparisons?

[!! Mr. Soprano]

Thanks and good ideas! Of course I want to avoid repeating myself.

Does your entire website have to be on a single page?

[Zeomg]

Does your entire website have to be on a single page?

There are sub-pages as well and the main page is not that long to load.

[joe kurtz]

Hey, good calculation of Rocky's record. It always did seem strange that Rocky was supposedly washed up in Rocky I but then a great champion in III, IV & V
Any real life comparisons?

Hey thanks.

As for real life comparisons, there aren't any as far as a ROCKY-like fighter coming out of nowhere & becoming THAT big of a star or that good of a fighter, with a long reign & engaging in MEGA fights like Balboa. That's pure Hollywood.

But, there are incidents of fighters who began their careers with no acclaim & who struggled for years while building mediocre records before turning it all around & becoming world class fighters & champions.
James Braddock who is the basis for the upcoming Russell Crowe film THE CINDERELLA MAN is an excellent example of just such an occurence. He began as a prospect at light heavyweight & even got a shot at the 175lb champion, but lost. Then he went on a losing streak & struggled at heavyweight before the new champion Max Bear came looking for an easy first title defense after winning the title by knocking out Primo Carnera.
Braddock wasn't expected to go more than a couple of rounds against the power punching Bear, but exploited the champion's trouble with slick boxers & won a 15 round decision & the World Heavyweight Championship. It was & remained the biggest upset in heavyweight history until Leon Spinks win over in Ali in 1978.

Another, more recent example of a huge, unknown underdog winning the heavyweight title was Mike Weaver who brought a suspect record of 18-9 into his opportunity against Larry Holmes in 1979.So, unimpressive was his record that ABC which was to telecast Holmes' third title defense on prime time TV, dropped those plans, depite the fact that chief undercard fight was the HIGHLY anticipated match up between Roberto Duran & Carlos Palomino!
So, HBO stepped in & agreed to telecast the card. And got one of the fights of the year in the process. Which, suprisingly wasn't the Duran-Palomino match which was won by Duran in onesided fashion over 10 rounds, but the supposed "mismatch" between Holmes & the unknown Weaver.
Weaver fought very aggressively & pressured Holmes throughout, even managing to drop the champion in the fourth round. Unfortunately for Weaver, the ref failed to call it a knockdown.
"Hercules" forced Holmes to fight off the ropes for much of the contest & dug in many brutal bodyshots. Which, appeared to be taking their toll on the ,then, 31-0 Holmes who's expected long reign appeared to be in SERIOUS doubt as they battled into the scheduled 15 rounder's final third.
Weaver dominated the 10th & was doing the same in round 11 as Holmes' legs looked unsteady as he took heavy punishment along the ropes. Then, out of nowhere, Holmes launched one of the very best punches of his career, a hellacious right uppercut that he seemingly brought up from the floor which nearly decapitated poor Weaver who fell flat on his back.
"Hercules" showed an almost legendary amount of heart by getting back to his feet before the 10 count & hanging onto his balance until the bell rang. But, the one minute between the 11th & the 12th rounds wasn't nearly enough time for him to recover & a very weary, but determined Holmes retained his title by forcing the referee to end Weaver's challenge by rescuing him from a Holmes barrage of punches.
Ending what was very nearly ROCKY like accomplishment for Weaver.
BUT, just because it didn't happen against Holmes, didn't mean that it didn't happen at all...

On the basis of his gallant stand against Holmes ( & a win over Scott Ledoux for the US title ), Weaver got another title shot, this time against unbeaten WBA champion "Big" John Tate.
Again, Weaver was a significant underdog as Tate was a skilled boxer with heavy hands & held every physical advantage over the much smaller challenger.
And, for 14 onesided rounds, it appeared as if Weaver's previous effort against Holmes was a "one off" performance against an unmotivated, under-prepared Holmes. He didn't look as if he belonged in a world title fight, much less a SECOND one!
But, all that changed late in the 15th & final round as Tate backed into the ropes while just going through the motions of running down the clock enroute to his first successful title defense. When Weaver launched a short, compact brutally powerful left hook which caught Tate right on the button. Which rendered Tate unconscious immediately upon landing, causing his face first fall to the canvas to have an odd, almost surreal, slow motion quality to it.
There was no need to count.
The winner & new champion & the one who gave what I personally consider to be THE most ROCKY-like performance in real life, Mike "Hercules" Weaver.

[paul750]

Hoskins vs Diver maybe?

[realheavyhands]

wrong forum