How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Rocky.
Quote #7
ROCKY: You hang around with coconuts, you get nowhere. They're lemons! Lemons!
This is good advice, but which is it, Rock? Are they coconuts or are they lemons? Or are they lemon-coconut cupcakes? Would that be a good thing?
Quote #8
APOLLO: Shape nothing, man. They afraid. Hell, they know everybody in the world's gonna see this fight, and none of them got a prayer of whipping me. So they making excuses so they don't have to be the chump to get whipped in front of the whole civilized world.
Apollo knows that reputation is a more valuable currency in the boxing world than sheer strength and talent is. That's why he spends so much time cultivating an image for himself.
Quote #9
ROCKY: All I wanna do is go the distance. […] And if I can go that distance, see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.
More than the championship belt, Rocky wants the ego boost. No one will call him a bum if he gets that close to the title, even if he doesn't get it. The reputation is a priceless prize.