Rocky - What is this pre-fight preparation?

Cafe Society
1

In the first Rocky film (1976) there is a scene before the big fight which alternates between Rocky and Apollo Creed’s dressing rooms. We see them taping their hands, sniffing something and then there’s this:

Skip to about the 3 minute mark and you’ll see Apollo’s trainer standing behind him, grasping him around the belly. Another man is in front of Apollo doing… something. Checking for a hernia? What’s going on there? And while we’re at it, what substance are Rocky and Apollo both sniffing and why?

2

WAG: heavy-duty nasal spray. Gotta keep those passages clear for breathing in (breathe out thru your mouth) until you get your nose broken.

3

It clearly says Vicks Sinex on the bottle. What is actually supposed to be in them, who knows :slight_smile:

4

A diaphragmatic breathing exercise? That’s a thing for boxers, I think.

5

Hernia check?

6

Something to constrict the blood vessels in the nose, would be my guess, to reduce bleeding and/or congestion.

7

Would there have been drug tests? Maybe it was supposed really to be Sinex, and not, say, cocaine in a Sinex bottle.

8

I don’t think drug testing had hit pro boxing yet. Some local athletic commissions may have required it. There is no overall governing body in boxing that could enforce something like that but it began to be specified in when boxers contracted to fight.

9

Here’s what the script says

So, the nose spray was to help them breathe better, and the groping was to open up the diaphragm (although the script had that happening to Rocky)

http://elcv.art.br/santoandre/biblioteca/_em_ingles/roteiros/Rocky-Um-Lutador_Rocky.pdf

(Warning: pdf)

10

That seems to settle it - thank you!