Kiwi boxers Robbie Berridge and Joseph Parker at the top of the "Rocky Steps" in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Photo / Patrick McKendry
The famous "Rocky Steps" in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art have provided inspiration for many boxers over the years, including one David Tua, and it was here today on a bright sunny morning that fellow New Zealanders Joseph Parker and Robbie Berridge found themselves ahead of their fights
this weekend.
In the movie Rocky, released in 1976, Sylvester Stallone plays Rocky Balboa, a journeyman professional given a shot at glory against champion Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers. In one of the most well-known training montages in cinematic history, Stallone pounds the streets before running up the 72 steps, shadow boxing, and raising his arms to the heavens.
It is a scene recreated by many here and neither Parker nor Berridge needed any persuading to follow suit. At the top of the steps there are bronze footprints of the Converse shoes Stallone wore. There is a bronze statue of him in a shaded area near the foot of the steps. For many, the impressive museum, with its imposing stone columns, serves only as a backdrop to their retracing of Stallone's steps.
Both heavyweight Parker, who will fight American Keith Thompson, and light heavyweight Berridge, who will fight undefeated Russian Vasily Lepikhin, said they were fans of the Rocky movies, their faithful recreations at the top of the steps which are situated at the end of the sweeping Benjamin Franklin Parkway, with the grand City Hall in the distance, suggesting as much.
Parker, who had just flown in from Las Vegas following a training camp curtailed by a problem getting a United States visa, said he felt in good shape and was keen to improve on his dominant victory over Brian Minto.
