Rocky Balboa (character)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style and may need cleanup. Please help rewrite this article according to the guidelines on writing about fiction, or discuss the issue on the talk page. |
| Rocky Balboa | |
 |
|
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Robert Balboa |
| Nickname | The Italian Stallion, Phliadelphia's Favorite Son, The Philadelphia Slugger, The Iron Horse from Philadelphia |
| Weight | Heavyweight |
| Nationality | Italian American |
| Birth date | 1946 |
| Birth place | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Style | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 82 |
| Wins | 57 |
| Wins by KO | 54 |
| Losses | 24 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 0 |
Robert "Rocky" Balboa, Sr. (born 1946) is a fictional boxer created and portrayed by Sylvester Stallone who has appeared in the Rocky series from 1976 to 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Robert "Rocky" Balboa was born in 1946. A Roman Catholic, he quit school after the ninth grade ."Rocky" - was living in the slums of South Philadelphia working as an enforcer for a local loan shark . He is close friends with Paulie Pennino whose sister, Adrian Pennino, he would ultimately marry.
[edit] Character Origin
| “ | Early in my acting career, I realized the only way I would ever prove myself was to create my own role in my own script. On my 29th birthday, I had $106 in the bank. My best birthday present was a sudden revelation that I had to write the kind of screenplay that I personally enjoyed seeing. I relished stories of heroism, great love, dignity, and courage, dramas of people rising above their stations, taking life by the throat and not letting go until they succeeded. But I had so many ideas in my head, I couldn't focus on any one. To cheer myself up, I took the last of my entertainment money and went to see the Ali-Wepner fight on closed circuit TV. Chuck Wepner, a battling, bruising club fighter who had never made the big time, was having his shot. It wasn't at all regarded as a serious battle. But as the fight progressed, this miracle unfolded. He hung in there. People went absolutely crazy. Wepner was knocked out in the 15th and final round, almost lasting the distance. We had witnessed an incredible triumph of the human spirit and we loved it.
That day, Rocky Balboa was born. People looked on him as the all-American tragedy, a man without much mentality and few social graces. But he has deep emotion and spirituality and good patriotism. And he has a good nature, although nature has not been particularly good to him. I have always seen him as a 20th Century gladiator in a pair of sneakers. Like so many of us, he is out of sync with the times. To all this, I injected doses of my own personal life, of my frustration at not getting anywhere. |
” |
|
—Sylvester Stallone[1] |
||
[edit] Boxing Style
Though right handed, Balboa fights as a southpaw (left handed). Rocky was a hybrid-fighter, possessing both the qualities of an Inside-fighter, brawler, and swarmer. In all of his major fights, with the exception of his rematch against Clubber Lang where he fought as an Outside-fighter (the same technique Apollo Creed used), he would advance quickly upon his opponent after failed attempts at landing his left hook (and after frustration had set in from the pummelling he would take) and drive them into the ropes, and set upon them with a devastating body attack which would wear the opponent down over the rounds.
Balboa rarely used his right jab in his bouts, save for the rematch against Lang and the first two rounds in the rematch against Creed, where he fought orthodox.
He was enormously hard-headed in the ring, repeatedly coming after his opponents even after having sustained heavy damage to his face or body. It was this trait, and the fact that Rocky always seemed to go on the offensive even harder after momentum shifted in his favor, that caused Stu Nahan (in his first fight with Creed), to refer to Rocky as a "bull in the China shop" (after knocking down Creed). As with many fighters in his world (save for perhaps only Apollo Creed), Rocky Balboa, with the exception of his rematch against Clubber Lang, seemed to lack any defensive skill. He routinely sustained punches to his head and still managed to fight back, a fact which both carried him to victory over Ivan Drago and resulted in him getting brain damage from the fight.
Balboa, as stated by Jim Lampley during the fight against Mason Dixon, was in the end renowned for his "cast iron jaw, ferocious body attack, and will of steel; all of which carried him to victories over the years against physically superior opponents.".
The fight scenes in the last movie, Rocky Balboa, are considered to be the most realistic of any boxing movie, with many boxing experts considering Stallone's in-ring performance to be his best ever.[1]
[edit] Trivia
- Though he fights as a southpaw, Rocky writes with his right hand.
- Though he is responsible for the popularization of the red, white and blue trunks in popular culture, Balboa wore a combination of black and gold for the majority of his career, including the rematch with Apollo Creed. The red, white, and blue trunks were - in fact - a present from Creed for the rematch against Lang, and a tribute following his death.
- Authorities in the Serbian village of Žitište plan to build a monument to Rocky.
- Based on the decorations in his resturant "Adrian's", Rocky Balboa had apparently unified the Heavyweight Championships of each major organization, even during the time of Muhammad Ali.
[edit] References
- ^ Stallone, Sylvester Origin of Rocky Balboa, totalrocky.com
2. Keenan, Ronan. The Relevance of Rocky Balboa [2]
[edit] External links
- Report on Rocky 6 and comparison to Rocky Marciano
- AUDIO: Sylvester Stallone on boxing and faith
- Statue Photo of Rocky Balboa statue at Philadelphia Museum.
| Rocky series |
|---|
| Rocky | Rocky II | Rocky III | Rocky IV | Rocky V | Rocky Balboa |
| Characters |
| Rocky Balboa | Mickey Goldmill | Apollo Creed Clubber Lang | Ivan Drago | Tommy Gunn |
| Video games |
| Rocky | Rocky Legends |
| Related articles |
| Rocky actors | Rocky music | Rocky Steps |
| Related articles (Boxing) |
| The distance | The "Real" Rocky | Southpaw | World Heavyweight Championship |
