Mickey's confidence right before the 1st match

[rocco]

Ok guys, this one is for those who really are into the Rocky Saga and III in particular.
We all know that after the "statue incident" Mickey and Rocky argue in Mickey's room and it ends up with Mickey yelling the instant classic line:"he'll knock ya 'til tomorrow, Rock........"
Mickey knows that Clubber is going to beat the hell out of Rocky, but somehow is brought into that fight and goes all the way through that "circus" training which is an hilarious one in comparison to what Clubber is doing by himself in his basement.
Then the night of the fight finally comes: Mickey shows terrific confidence in Rocky to the press/TV first and to Rocky himself later on, since one thing is telling him "take your time, this punk never went 15 rounds" as he did and another one would have been "you've gotta give all you've got to bring it home tonight, kid" which he didn't.
Now here's the question: was he for real? I mean did he truly believe in that kind of confidence he showed to the press/TV and Rocky?
I think he didn't, but since he was one of the most experienced man in the business he knew that those kind of "confidence talkings" would have at least given a little extra boost to Rocky before what he feared it could easily become sort of a bloodbath.
At the end of the day he tried to protect Rocky that night as well as he did with those "not too hard" 10 title defenses.
What's your opinion?

[roccobalboa]

Once he was commited .... whether he really believed Rocky could win ... as his manager and friend, he NEEDED to believe and be confident. Once he agreed to manage him .... there was a whole new mindset.

[thebumfromthedark]

I also think it WAS possible Rocky could have beaten or gone the distance that night... Rocky may have lost his edge, but remember, none of those other contenders disgraced Adrian.

And nothing pisses off Rocky more than somebody messing with his family. Just ask Tommy Gunn.

But RoccoB is right: managers HAVE to believe their man can take it or at least make their fighter think they can.

[rocco]

thebumfromthedark said:

I also think it WAS possible Rocky could have beaten or gone the distance that night... Rocky may have lost his edge, but remember, none of those other contenders disgraced Adrian.

And nothing pisses off Rocky more than somebody messing with his family. Just ask Tommy Gunn.

But RoccoB is right: managers HAVE to believe their man can take it or at least make their fighter think they can.

Of course I agree on everything but the "messing with his family" point.
I mean I agree that such a thing is something that really pisses Rocky off but the man who ko'd Gunn in the streetfight was a true streetfighter whose itch was right on the surface of his skin, the man who stepped into the ring with Clubber was far from being anything like that, proof is the mere fact that those insult to Adrian didn't prevent him for being trashed by Clubber in less than 4 minutes. When your itch is gone it becomes quite hard to get things the way you want them to be........

[Mrs B]

You know what, Rocco - it weird that you picked up on this because I did too. The only explanation I can offer is that what all of you have kinda touched on - Micky needed to give Rocky the confidence to fight. But what gets me is that when we see Micky talking to the press is that his confidence seems absolute. It seems honest - not forced just to front Rocky or the crowds.

This notion that Micky did have confidence in Rocky before the first fight is (to me) reinforced by Mickys compete lack of suprise on his death-bed when Rocky says that it was over after the second round. I dont believe that Micky thought it was Rocky who lost - I think he likely thought that it was Rocky who won and that he had confidence in him to do so.

Why didnt Rocky win, then? Well, I think that Micky thought Rocky may win because Clubber would have brought out the 'Eye of the Tiger' in Rocky that was needed - and maybe if micky hadnt have died, this may have happened??? Who knows....

[originalfan]

Mickey had two choices at that point: Pump Rocky up or tell him he was a putz. He really had no choice once they were there than to tell Rocky he could do it. Did he believe he could? I think he *hoped* so, but that was all. Recall that as he was dying, he thought that the knockout Rocky talked about was Clubber being knocked out, and he grinned. I think he was pleasantly surprised by the 'knock-out'.