Antonio Tarver
Interview: Antonio Tarver on Rocky Balboa
"I don't remember getting a call from anybody
but Sylvester Stallone," recalled Tarver. "He called me directly.
He said that he wrote this script with me in mind and that it was mine to
turn down. I automatically said, 'Where do I sign up?' I wasn't going to
turn down this opportunity for no one. When I heard of the character and
I read the script, it was perfect. It was something that I felt confident
that I can do and I'm glad that he had faith in me. He's done that a number
of times with Mr. T. he took a chance with him and Clubber Lang and the
rest is history. Mr. T was one of the biggest icons in his day with A-Team
and all that was a springboard from Rocky. So if I can
even just scratch the surface of the success that those guys have had coming
off of the Rocky films, then I'm looking forward to the
future."
The film actually required more training than some of Tarver's real fights.
"The physical demand in preparing for a real fight is not as hard as,
depending on what role. In this particular role, it was hard because I had
to go lift weights, I had to train, I had to look the part, get stronger,
get bigger. So that was a real, real grind. As well as my professional career
but real boxing is more a toll on your body. It takes your body through
a lot of changes. We diet, we spar, you practice and we hit bags and you
run in the morning. You tell your girlfriend or your wife to sleep in the
other room so it's hard. A lot of sacrifices. Lot of sacrifices."
Rocky Balboa
Hum the Rocky theme to yourself as Tarver describes
the training regimen. "Well, we prepared about a month and a half before
we ever started shooting. We got the fight scenes down pat and I trained
with the great Gunnar Peterson who is pretty much the trainer of the stars
out here in LA. On any given day, I would see Denzel Washington, Nicole
Ritchie, just to name a few. They're just walking out, coming in as I was
going and he worked me really, really hard to bulk up to like 215, 218 pounds
was hard. I had to fill out to the part but people do it all the time in
acting. The hard part was I had to get back down to light heavyweight and
that was a tremendous struggle. Maybe it cost me a win. Who can ever say?
But I know if I had it all over to do again I would never turn down the
opportunity to be in such a great movie, great film, Rocky Balboa
and the final chapter of the Rocky franchise. I mean, they'll forget about
the fight I lost but they'll forever remember Mason 'The Line' Dixon. That's
what it is."
Dixon doesn't want to fight a 60-year-old man but his promoters say he has
to. He's beaten everybody and the only public interest is seeing him fight
the former champ. "At the time, I just felt that being 33 and 0 with
33 knock outs, the most superior heavyweight to come along in a long time,
it didn't make sense to me. I though that I could beat this guy with both
hands tied behind my back. It just really didn't make sense to me, but after
looking at it more carefully, there was something else to gain from fighting
a great fighter that had the fan affair and the love that I feel like I
didn't have, that I thought I should have had and it was an opportunity
to gain that rather than just the money and the materialistic things because
I have that. But it was a lesson learned in fighting Rocky Balboa. There
was no real big fight out there for me at the time. When I thought about
it, it made sense. And then it was just an exhibition so why not?"
Rocky Balboa is out in theatres now.
For trailers, clips, images, more interviews, synopsis and more movie info,
go to the Rocky
Balboa Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
|
Add to Heffee!
