What is Apollo Creed's trainer doing?

February 21, 2015 7:08 PM

In the first Rocky movie, just before the fight, we see both Rocky and Apollo being prepped in their respective locker rooms. Rocky is having Vaseline put under his eyes and Apollo is sitting on his bench breathing deeply, with his trainer behind him holding his torso. There is another man (His corner man? A doctor?) sort of squatting in front of Creed with his hands in the vicinity of Creed's waistband. What is this preparation for? What are these guys doing? I've looked at different boxing sites and haven't seen anything helpful.
posted by blurker to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

i can't speak to what the trainer is doing WRT Creed's waistband, but the guy putting the vaseline on his face (most likely his cut man) is doing that to prevent cuts when Creed is punched in the face during the fight (leather boxing gloves cause inflammation and leave a burning feeling on a dry face; repeated punches will cause these inflamed areas to start bleeding). The vaseline is more likely to make punches slide and prevent burns & bleeding.
posted by KingEdRa at 8:23 PM on February 21, 2015

Here's an excerpt from some random page on the web claiming to be the Rocky script. No answers, but I think maybe a clue? It seems like it's describing what you're talking about - where trainers are squeezing and poking Creed - except in the script, it's being done to Rocky. Anyway, something about lifting the diaphragm. Good luck figuring out what that means.

INT. APOLLO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

CLOSE-UP of drops being placed in his nose to help increase
his intake of oxygen. The tremendously magnified SOUND of
APOLLO TAKING IN AIR.

INT. ROCKY'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

CLOSE-UP of the drops being placed in Rocky's nose.

INT. APOLLO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

A heavy coating of vaseline is applied around the Champion's
eyes... In an EXTREME CLOSE-UP, the eyes shine brightly with
the grease.

INT. ROCKY'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

Grease is smeared around Rocky's eyes... In the EXTREME
CLOSE-UP several deep scars are SEEN.

INT. APOLLO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

CLOSE-UP of Apollo's trainer digging his fingers deeply into
the thick neck muscles of Apollo's upper back and neck.

INT. ROCKY'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

CLOSE-UP OF Mike's arms wrapped around Rocky's waist and
lifting his diaphragm up... Magnified BREATHING ROARS from
the screen.


100.


INT. APOLLO'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT

Apollo's trainer slips a mouthpiece into Apollo's mouth.
Apollo shakes his head and the trainer removes it and places
another one in the champ's mouth... Creed nods yes.

posted by stuart_s at 10:39 PM on February 21, 2015

Two possibilities: manually lifting the diaphragm is enhancing Creed's breathing, increasing oxygen uptake. Also, he may be trying to get Creed's abs to relax, since tightened abs constrict the diaphragm which hampers breathing.
posted by beagle at 6:14 AM on February 22, 2015