The man who trained Sylvester Stallone to fight like a boxer is coming to Temecula.
Jimmy Gambina, 83, the boxing trainer who prepared Stallone and Carl Weathers for the original 1976 film "Rocky," will appear at Hendo's Barrel House on Saturday, Oct. 24. He'll be joined by artist Eddie Martinez and WBC Legends of Boxing Museum chairman Rudy Tellez for a book signing and meet-and-greet, Patch reported.
The event runs from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the gastropub, located at 27901 Jefferson Ave., Suite 100.
Martinez, 91, is the Los Angeles-born artist behind the 1972 painting "The Golden Age of Boxing." His new book, "The Art of the Square Ring: Painting the Golden Age of Boxing," tells the story behind that work. The painting grew out of research trips to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, where Martinez studied fight archives inside the park's James J. Jeffries Barn museum. Original photographs, fight posters, plaques and ticket stubs from the collection fed the painting, according to Patch.
Over a five-decade career, Martinez worked as an illustrator and production designer for 20th Century Fox, NBC, Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Studios and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He is now retired in rural Colorado.
Gambina was originally hired to train Stallone for "Rocky" but landed the on-screen role of Mike, Mickey's second-in-command at the gym. He returned for "Rocky V" and served as a fight choreographer, stunt coordinator and technical consultant on films including "Raging Bull," "The Champ" and "Planet of the Apes," according to Patch. "We started training five months before the film," Gambina told TotalRocky.com in a 2004 interview.
Tellez, known in combat sports as the "Mouthpiece Doctor," co-founded the WBC Legends of Boxing Museum and the Alhambra Youth Boxing Club. A retired dentist, he has made custom mouthpieces for actors including Denzel Washington and Will Smith, according to MyBoxingFans.com.
Books and collectible boxing posters will be available for purchase at the event.
