In the Ring With Rocky Balboa: Some Advice for Young Men

If you want your dreams to come true, you need to lay the groundwork— just as Rocky did. Biba Kayewich

In Sylvester Stallone’s first movie about Rocky Balboa, the boxer ends his morning jog by trying to run up the 72 steps leading up to the Philadelphia Art Museum. When he finally makes it, Rocky does a victory dance at the top, looking down at the city of Philadelphia. That moment of triumph is one of Hollywood’s great iconic scenes. To this day some visitors to the city imitate this run up the steps.

For use in his movie “Rocky III,” Stallone commissioned a 2,000-pound, 8-foot-6-inch bronze statue of Rocky and had it placed at the top of the stairs outside the art museum. After filming, he left the statue in place as a gift to the city. Although it attracted hordes of fans and tourists, some critics complained that the statue was kitsch, and after a few months, it was moved for a time to the city’s sports arena. Today, it stands near the bottom of the art museum’s steps and still draws thousands of viewers annually.

When I visited Philadelphia in 1982, the statue had just been removed, but the base remained. Lines of people, many of them young men and boys, were waiting their turn to stand atop that base and be photographed holding their fists above their heads in triumph. These imitations were both humorous and moving, but long afterward, I finally realized the deeper meaning of these acts of emulation.

Rocky had struck a chord with these young men. They wanted to be Rocky. They’d seen the movies, absorbed some of the lessons the fictional fighter had to teach, and wanted to be champions in their own lives.

Vocation

With the exception of Rocky V, which was dreadful, the Rocky films teach numerous principles to young men: People judge us by our friends; families stick together; marriage and children are important; and friends deserve our loyalty.

One ongoing theme throughout the films is vocation, which comes from the Latin “vocare,” meaning to call. What are we called to do with our lives? And how do we fulfill that calling?

On his first date with Adrian, who will become his wife, she asks, “Why do you wanna fight?” Rocky facetiously answers, “Because I can’t sing or dance.” In “Rocky II,” however, after having promised Adrian that he would make no more appearances in the ring, Rocky can find no other means of satisfactory employment. Taunted by Apollo Creed into making a rematch, he must break his promise to Adrian, but she finally realizes that she has interfered with this calling. The other movies all touch upon this idea of knowing and honoring our vocation.

In our time, when so many of our young males are drifting or lost, a few rounds with Rocky might make them aware that each one of them has a mission in life, if they’ll make the effort to discover it.

Shape Up, Work the Bag, Spar

All the Rocky movies emphasize preparation and training.

Besides his famous run to the top of the stairs in the first movie, Rocky spends hours a day in a gym preparing himself for a once-in-a-time fight. In Rocky II, his trainer Mick teaches him to box so as to protect his vision from further damage. In Rocky III, Apollo Creed takes over Rocky’s training, works alongside him, and hones him into a state of physical perfection. While Ivan Drago, Rocky’s Russian opponent, uses all sorts of high-tech gizmos for his training, we find Rocky dragging heavy sleds and carrying logs through the snows of Russia.

The message? Dreams may be free, but if you want them to come true, you need to lay the groundwork.

Mentors Matter

In the Rocky movies, Rocky comes under the tutelage of several guides before becoming a mentor himself.

The most influential of these is Mickey Goldmill, who steers Rocky through his first two fights with Apollo Creed. We first see Mick as a tough, kick-butt trainer who is contemptuous of Rocky.

“For six years, you been sticking it to me,” Rocky says. “I wanna know how come!”

“OK, I’m gonna tell ya. You had the talent to become a good fighter, but instead of that, you became a legbreaker to some cheap, second-rate loan shark!”

“It’s a living.”

“It’s a waste of life!” Mick says.

Later, when the two of them overcome their differences and become a team, Mick gives Rocky a cufflink that belonged to the boxing great Rocky Marciano, which Mick has had shaped into a golden glove. “And now I’m givin‘ it to you,” Mick says, “and it, it’s gotta be like a, like an angel on your shoulder, see? If you ever get hurt and you feel that you’re goin’ down, this little angel is gonna whisper in your ear. It’s gonna say, ‘Get up you [expletive], ’cause Mickey loves you'. OK?”

Now, there’s a cornerman all of us could use in life.

The Rocky movies are telling young men to keep their eyes open for such a guide, whether it’s a mom or dad, a coach, a teacher, or a special friend. If you find that person, hold them close. And above all, listen to them.

How to Beat Your Worst Adversary

When we’re in the ring punching away against life, our toughest opponent is usually the one who lives inside our own heads. In “The War of Art,” writer Stephen Pressfield, best known for his 1998 novel “Gates of Fire,” calls this enemy “The Resistance,” that inner voice constantly luring us away from our work, our duties, and our desire for self-improvement. Pressfield’s Resistance is “the most toxic force on the planet,” which, if allowed free rein, “will bury you.”

In these movies, Rocky must frequently overcome this resistance, sometimes with the help of his wife Adrian and sometimes with trainers and friends. In “Rocky Balboa,” the capstone to his saga, Rocky has matured enough to recognize that this enemy of ambition and accomplishment has infected his grown son. In their father-and-son talk, he offers the best advice from these movies:

“But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”

If you need some help moving forward, give the Rocky movies a shot.