Punches that smart!

Lennox Lewis says "Rocky" underestimates boxers' IQ; Mills wants Sir Paul to go gray. Plus: Puffy sends best wishes to J.Lo; and anonymous star goes catty on Winona.

Published June 11, 2002 4:46PM (EDT)

Lennox Lewis' next victim? Sylvester Stallone.

The heavyweight boxing champ is apparently looking to KO a few misconceptions put forth by Stallone in his "Rocky" pix.

First off, Lewis tells celebrity researcher Baird Jones, it really ticks him off that Sly projected "this image that all boxers are like 'duh,' like we're all stupid."

In fact, he maintains, "boxers are not stupid like Rocky. We are surprisingly intelligent."

Lewis also takes issue with the portrayal of boxers as having a penchant for pain.

"In 'Rocky,' there is a horrible scene where he lets the trainer cut through his swollen eyelid so that Stallone can see, and it is really a horrible mutilation," Lewis says. "All my career, all the crazy stories I heard, I never heard of a boxer who had his eyelid cut open so that he could see during a fight."

In short, Lewis contends, "Sly Stallone made boxers look like idiots and masochists, and that is very unrealistic and unfair."

Wait till the arm-wrestling community finally sees "Over the Top!"

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Hannibal Lecter's life lessons

"I think stress keeps you alive, a certain amount of stress. And if you don't have that in your life, you'll die from another kind of stress, which is anxiety and depression. That's the worst kind of stress."

-- Anthony Hopkins on good stress vs. bad stress, to the Associated Press.

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Hair today, gray tomorrow?

When Paul McCartney and Heather Mills stroll down the aisle today, the bride may be wearing white. But she's apparently secretly wishing her groom wouldn't be sporting so much black up top.

According to London's Sunday People, Mills is trying to get the old Beatle to let his gray roots roam free.

"She thinks gray hair is distinguished and that Paul would look far sexier if he stayed true to nature," a "friend" of the couple reportedly snitched to the tabloid.

Will she still need him, will she still needle him, when he's 64?

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Dude, he talks to a dog ...

"I'll still go on record saying I don't know if Shaggy is a stoner. The creators of the cartoon continually deny it. So, in the longstanding tradition of Hanna-Barbera, I'll deny it also."

-- Matthew Lillard, who plays Shaggy in live-action, big-screen version of "Scooby-Doo," toeing the party line about his munchie-lovin' character's druggie rep, in the New York Post.

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Juicy bits

Sir Jagger, we presume? Word out of London is that Mick Jagger will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II next weekend. The anticipated honor was reported in the Sunday Times, but neither the queen's people nor the prime minister's office, which was reported to have petitioned for royal recognition on the rocker's behalf, would confirm. "We never discuss honors until they are actually awarded," a Downing Street spokeswoman told the press. She's so cold.

P. Diddy didn't do it. Sean "Puffy" Combs is denying rumors that he and Jennifer Lopez are back in each other's arms, now that she's split from her short-term husband, Cris Judd. "Contrary to reports, Mr. Combs and Ms. Lopez are not together," Puffy's spokeswoman told the press. "However, he wishes her well during this difficult time." They always do.

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Because the rest of Hollywood is so normal

"I have to say I always thought she was kind of odd. I think that's what a lot of Hollywood thinks."

-- An unidentified female star kicking Winona Ryder while she's down, in Newsweek.

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Miss something? Read yesterday's Nothing Personal.


By Amy Reiter

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