Fast Break

Boxing

Stallone has reality on ropes

Sylvester Stallone acknowledges taking the idea for his first “Rocky” movie from the Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in 1975.

Now, with “Rocky Balboa” which opened nationally Friday, Rocky, on the plus side of 50, steps into the ring to compete against a 30-something champion.

So where did Stallone get that idea? George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer?

Nope. Stallone said it was from the DVD of a “fantasy fight” between Ali and Rocky Marciano. During Ali’s midcareer exile from boxing, the two ex-champions sparred together for dozens of exhibition rounds that were edited into a projected outcome in 1970. The computer-determined result had Marciano winning by 13th-round knockout.

Boxing historian Bert Sugar recalled the fight game’s version of the Senior Tour. Bob Fitzsimmons, who held titles in the early 20th century, was 50 when he fought his last bout. Jack Johnson fought when he was 50 and Jack Dempsey did at 45.

Hockey

One expensive Christmas gift

A hockey stick believed to have been carved between 1852 and 1856 was sold at auction for $2.2 million and the winning bidder plans to offer the stick to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It is purported to be the oldest hockey stick.

Football

New York sock exchange

Stephen Mara, son of late New York Giants owner Wellington Mara, traded blows, not stocks, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

When fellow broker and Eagles fan Bob Tomasulo mocked Mara’s team, which lost to Philadelphia last Sunday, Mara acted. “He charged me like an animal,” Tomasulo told the New York Post. “He charged me like he wanted to sack me.” The Giants rank 18th in the NFL in sacks.

“Give him a helmet. Get him out on the field,” retired Giants tight end Mark Bavaro told the paper.