Sylvester Stallone has been in more boxing scrapes than most actors due to his Rocky Balboa days. A sparring session with a heavyweight boxer was no different.
Stallone starkly revealed that hard-hitting Earnie Shavers gave him a beatdown when the pair sparred in the 1970s.
Shavers, who died in September 2022 after an illness, had one of the biggest punches in the entire sport. George Foreman famously rated Shavers as the hardest-hitting top-division operator of all time.
The slugger shared the ring with multiple heavyweight champions, including a loss to Muhammad Ali in 1977. The Ali defeat came a year after Stallone played the title character in the United States smash hit Rocky.
Larry Holmes was another of the world champions who beat Shavers. However, Shavers proved his power when he took out Ken Norton in the first round in a career-best victory.
During a chat show appearance in New York, Hollywood legend Stallone spoke to UK journalist Jonathan Ross and guests via Zoom. He spoke of sparring with boxing legends in several preparations for his Rocky movie franchise.
Those sessions often led to an injury.
“I sparred with [Muhammad] Ali, and Joe Fraser gave me eleven stitches. That was in about two seconds,” Stallone told Ross.
“I was thinking about using him [Frazier] instead of Mr. T in Rocky III. I said, ‘Let me use a real fighter.’ That’s not a good idea.”
On sharing the ring with some of the most dangerous heavyweights that ever laced up gloves, Stallone added: “They don’t know how to stop pulling their punches. That’s the whole point. They think I’ll follow through.
“Earnie Shavers literally almost beat me to death without trying. [He was] wearing 20-ounce gloves. Imagine if he was angry!”
It’s a well-known fact that Stallone walked away from the latest installment of the Rocky spin-off franchise “Creed.” – Michael B. Jordan directed for the first time, and Stallone wanted the actor to be the sole focus of production.
Fans of the beloved series may never see Rocky Balboa on the silver screen again, as Stallone has sworn the character off the screen.
Stallone was free to focus on other projects like the hit series Tulsa King, being in the Marvel blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy III, and starring alongside his family in “The Family Stallone” docuseries.
Although a massive part of his life, Beloved boxer Rocky is seemingly behind the Hollywood actor these days. Rocky director Irwin Winkler’s talk of a Drago spin-off hasn’t gone down well with “Sly.”
Stallone ranted: “Irwin Winkler and his family suck Rocky dry! – Presumed to be Hollywood’s most hated, untalented, decrepit producer. [Winkler and] his cowardly children have found their next meal -Drago?
“But throughout history, so many artists have been recording, painting, and writing in every industry. You name it. These bloodsuckers have destroyed you!”
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Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, an experienced boxing writer and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN and Quora.
