It was a homecoming of sorts for Sylvester Stallone at the premiere of his boxing film “Grudge Match” at the Ziegfeld Monday. We’re told Stallone, who worked at the theater in the 1960s, was greeted by staff saying, “Welcome home,” and was shocked nothing had changed. “It looks exactly the same,” Sly was heard saying. Co-star Robert De Niro, who flew in from Panama and back to film “Hands of Stone,” impressed Stallone by handling real punches. “Once he commits, he goes all the way,” Sly told reporters. “He took some serious hits and falls. He won’t admit it, but he did . . . He was on the East Coast and I’m training on the West Coast. It’s the equivalent of having a ballet recital and you don’t meet your partner till the curtain goes up and you hope it all works out and it did.” Director Peter Segal said, “I wanted the reality and those guys, unfortunately, weren’t able to do perfect movie punches every time. They connected quite a bit. You can see their backs and shoulders got scarred up by the ropes.” Also at Monday’s premiere: Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin, Kim Basinger, boxing legend Larry Holmes, Jane Rosenthal, John McEnroe, Frankie Avalon, Vincent Pastore and Sherri Shepherd.
De Niro, Sly took real shots while filming ‘Grudge Match’
