![]() ![]() The referee does not disqualify Rocky, for hitting someone who’s down, but instead declares him the winner. But then Rocky suffers an intentional head-butt and responds, as boxers typically do not, by punching his opponent down onto the canvas, and then kneeling over him and punching some more. “You’re fighting like a bum,” his trainer tells him. Our hero, in a dimly lit hall, is not doing well. (He says it in “Rocky II,” which was released in 1979, around the same time as the first hip-hop records, and the phrase is a reminder that “yo” long predates hip-hop.) And I liked the way the series folded in on itself: in the “Creed” movies, the fighters appear on fictionalized versions of HBO’s “24/7” and Showtime’s “All Access,” two docuseries that those networks used in order to make their boxing matches seem more cinematic-more like “Rocky.” I knew “Yo, Adrian,” one of Rocky’s most famous utterances, but I had assumed that Adrian was Rocky’s trainer, rather than his wife. On the contrary, the experience was pleasantly familiar, like meeting a celebrity who more or less lives up to his image. No one will be shocked or disappointed to learn that I was neither shocked nor disappointed. And so, spurred by the impending release of “Creed III,” I decided I should finally watch the “Rocky” saga-all nine films, in order, in two weeks. Intentional ignorance, though, is difficult to defend. Real boxing matches are televised or streamed just about every Saturday night, and so watching some fictional ones, no matter how hallowed, was never a top priority. But I had never got around to watching any of the “Rocky” movies. I have particular reason to care about the “Rocky” universe, because I am a boxing fan, and not a casual one-more than half a century after Muhammad Ali first fought Joe Frazier, and more than thirty years after Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson (“pure Rocky,” Sports Illustrated called it), it’s not clear that there are any casual boxing fans left. This past Friday, “Creed III,” the ninth installment in the “Rocky” series, arrived in theatres, earning more than a hundred million dollars worldwide over the weekend-a franchise record. ![]() Jordan played Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, Rocky’s old enemy turned ally. The franchise, like its hero, refused to quit, delivering “II” through “V”, and then, in 2006, “Rocky Balboa.” In 2015, the series was revived again as “Creed”: Michael B. When Stallone was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, in 2011, he accepted the honor in front of a crowd of people chanting “Rocky! Rocky!” Both Rocky Balboa, the character, and Sylvester Stallone, who created and embodied him, were inspired by Rocky Marciano, the nineteen-fifties heavyweight, who is now much less known than his fictional namesake. At first, viewers were amazed that a grimy, small-budget film could be as exciting as a major boxing match, but as sequels proliferated, fans, especially casual ones, found themselves wondering whether any boxing match could possibly be as exciting as “Rocky.” Fighters borrowed the name, or the music (either Bill Conti’s famous “Rocky” fanfare, or “Eye of the Tiger,” by Survivor, from “Rocky III,” which was adopted by Manny Pacquiao) a boxing promoter looking to drum up interest in a mismatch could sell it as a real-life “Rocky” story. When people say boxing resembles the movies, they are typically talking about one movie in particular: “Rocky.” It arrived in theatres in 1976, a surprise hit that kept hitting. (His previous opponents included a retired basketball player and a trio of aging mixed martial artists.) “It’s telling you, ‘Why are we doing this? Give up! Give up!’ You go back to the corner, your coach is slapping you in the face, throwing water at you, saying, ‘What’s going on? You need to step it up!’ It is really just like the movies.” “Your body’s dying,” Paul continued, explaining the addictive thrill of being a fighter. He was on ESPN, hyping his forthcoming fight, which was his eighth, and his first against a professional boxer. Paul is, in fact, an actor-or was, a few years ago, before quitting to concentrate on his social-media career, which he left behind to embark on an unlikely journey into the sport of boxing. “It’s just like the movies,” Jake Paul said, not long ago.
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