A Different Theory of Rocky's Admission to Adonis

Rocky vs. Apollo?

Who won?

If you’re a fan of the Rocky movie series, you are more than familiar with Rocky III.  Apollo and Rocky in the same corner working together to defeat Mr. T; how epic was that?  After Rocky beat Mr. T, there was one last fight between Rocky and Apollo behind closed doors. No one knows who won that fight since the movie was released in 1982.  One could speculate either way, but most people had in the back of their minds that Rocky won that fight. With ‘Creed’ being the newest installment in the Rocky franchise (possibly a spin-off in and of itself), that long awaited question has been answered.

This movie is probably the best movie I’ve seen this year and I highly recommend that you see it yourself. That being said, I’m only going to give away one spoiler for the sake of this article.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW:


Rocky confirmed that Apollo won the fight. Even though he confirmed this to Apollo’s son, some theorists believe that he only said this to make Adonis (Apollo’s son) feel better about himself. I have a different theory.

I’ve always believed Apollo won that fight ever since I watched Rocky III and IV. When Rocky and Apollo were sprinting on the beach during the last training session in Rocky III, you could see in Apollo’s face and the way he was running that he was slowing down on purpose so Rocky could pass him. Rocky was training to defeat Mr. T who got in his head, was way stronger than him, and knocked him out in the first round. Now obviously the training paid off and his goal was met. But Apollo wasn’t out of shape, he was there with Rocky every step of the way and more. I believe that because Apollo was in better shape than Rocky, Apollo was better equipped to defeat Rocky at the end of Rocky III and in fact did defeat Rocky.

Rocky IV takes place immediately after Rocky III. No gaps in time at all and this is further evidence why I believe Apollo defeated Rocky. Apollo was so confident he could defeat the Russian because he had just defeated Rocky in their most recent bout. If Apollo had lost, I think he wouldn’t have even thought twice about challenging the Russian. Hell he probably would have told Rocky to go after him. Tell me what you think in the comments.