OT: Rocky Balboa: World Heavyweight Champion

[EagleFan]

I just saw him beat Apollo Creed on TV!!! yay!!!

[Sun Tzu]

He's overrated.

[JeffNights]

Funny, i just picked up "Rocky" on DVD for ten bucks. ite the commertive edition. Not really much extra, that is if you love watching the sly one talk for half hour as an extra "FEATURE".

[AgPete]

"Ohhh, you just saw Rocky didn't you little man?"

-- Eddie Murphy

[AlejandroSosa]

Apollo Creed has nothing on THUNDERLIPS

[Karim]

Rocky's got the heart and chin of a champion but one of these days you've got to figure it'll lead to brain damage.

Still, it wouldn't surprise me if he loses all his fortune eventually.

[Buccaneer]

Recently watch Rocky I to III on DVD. To me, a great set of movies.

[Pyser]

dont knock 4

if he dies, he dies.

[AlejandroSosa]

4 was great because of James Brown

[AgPete]

Sylvester Stallone is going to be one of the regulars in the new boxing reality TV show. Sugar Ray Leonard will be the boxer's trainer. I think Stallone is his manager. Not sure.

[AlejandroSosa]

a boxing reality show? god.. I hope its not as bad as the basketball reality show ESPN did with Magic Johnson.. that was horrible

[AgPete]

I just found a link. I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe the winner fights Sugar Ray Leonard. I just saw a brief bit about this show on TV and the website doesn't really explain how the show will operate.

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Contender/

[AgPete]

dola

Here's a better link
Sugar Ray Leonard is the trainer for the winner

15 March 2004, 10:00pm ET

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES, March 15 (Reuters) - Five-time world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard is stepping back into the ring, this time with "Rocky" star Sylvester Stallone, for an upcoming NBC reality show called "The Contender."

The network said on Monday that Leonard, 47, will serve with Stallone as an on-air adviser and mentor to aspiring pugilists competing on the show for $1 million in prize money and a shot at becoming America's next boxing superstar.

The show is being jointly developed by "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett, DreamWorks SKG co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and Stallone, all of whom are serving as executive producers.

When plans for the show were first unveiled last month, sources said NBC outbid rival networks by agreeing to pay $2 million an episode in licensing fees for the 16-part series. But the deal was structured to allow NBC to recoup much of those fees through the barter of advertising time to the producers.

Burnett, who also developed "The Apprentice" for NBC with real estate tycoon Donald Trump, has said "The Contender" is tentatively slated to premiere on NBC in January. Casting calls are planned in 10 U.S. cities, starting April 9 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The series is envisioned as an unscripted drama that chronicles the struggle of real-life boxers to make a name for themselves rather than as merely an athletic competition. It will follow 16 fighters as they slug their way through training and qualifying bouts to a big-time title shot.

"I think it's more than just boxing," Leonard said at a weekend announcement in Las Vegas. "It's about people, it's about this industry ... this young man is trying to climb out of poverty and trying to obtain that major dream of becoming a world champion successfully."

Leonard gained international acclaim after winning the gold metal at the 1976 Olympic Games and went on to capture five world titles in five weight classes before retiring from the ring.

Also joining the project as a consultant in the casting process is Prentiss Byrd, a boxing expert with 27 years of experience who has worked with such fighters as Thomas Hearns and Leon Spinks.

Katzenberg said the addition of Leonard Prentiss would lend credibility to the project by helping "to make sure that the boxing is legitimate, it's real and that it's a real contest."

Burnett said the the outcome of bouts each week among the 16 contenders on the show will be determined by independent judges, and "The best man is going to win."

Likewise, Stallone, who gained fame in the 1976 film "Rocky" as the small-time boxer who beats the odds to go the distance with the world's heavyweight champion, promised the "The Contender" would "keep it basic and true."

[AlejandroSosa]

a reality show that's unscripted? Like that'll ever happen..