Michael Jordan boxing shoes

Michael Jordan has earned rave reviews for his star turn in Creed, in which he plays Rocky Balboa's prodigy and the son of Apollo Creed (as if you haven't seen it yet.)

"1st few times we attempted to do (the punches inside scene), we tried to it aided by the slips, " Jordan told Bill Simmons on the sportswriter's podcast. (The hourlong meeting is worth a listen, as Jordan discusses bonding with Carl Weathers and Sylvester Stallone, previous gigs on Wire, Friday Night Lights, and featuring in a rom-com alongside Jennifer Lawrence.)

"[The shot is] slow-motion, so you can understand misses, the space amongst the blows. So, out of the blue, you just hear this snickering from part, and everyone's like 'exactly what?' And Sly's love, 'Man you gotta go on it.' I am like, 'exactly what do you realy mean?' he is like, 'No, you gotta take a real punch.' Like, pretty much, I had to really get struck."

Seriously: Jordan sells that knockout so well, we saw that clip about twelve times to see if he moves immediately following striking the canvas. (And could you view that: Nike even leaves the Swoosh on bottoms of boxing footwear!)

Jordan's functioning paid down: Creed knocked-out experts and audiences alike, garnering a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes (audiences gave it a 95per cent) and raking in a good $42.6 million over Thanksgiving week-end, the tenth-largest film opening of all time.

Stallone has not been doing too badly either, garnering a Golden Globe nomination for his reprisal as the Italian Stallion. He is up against Paul Dano (Love & Mercy), Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), and Michael Shannon (99 domiciles).