Admit it: When you hear “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme song from the Rocky movies, you can’t help but get that inspirational feeling deep down in your gut. Bill Conti‘s anthem gets the juices flowing, practically demanding that anyone listening rise to whatever challenge they’re facing and claim victory. Back in 1976, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a young fighter from Philadelphia who was moonlighting as a small-time hood to pay the bills, entered a local gym and met a man named Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith) who would become his trainer. The story would become the stuff of legends, and nearly five decades later, the name Rocky Balboa is still synonymous with not only the City of Brotherly Love, but also the greatest rags-to-riches underdog story ever told on screen. If you ask Philadelphians who best represents their hardscrabble, blue-collar city, many will immediately offer up Rocky as its unquestioned heart and soul. Never before has a fictional character been so embraced as a real life symbol of hope and overcoming long odds to achieve one’s dreams.
In more recent years, the Rocky franchise has expanded to include the Creed spinoff series, only adding the franchise’s legacy of brutal yet inspirational big-screen boxing matches. Here is our list of the very best fights from the Rocky cinematic universe, ranked by how big of an emotional and dramatic impact they make as the characters are slugging it out in the ring.
8. Rocky vs. Clubber Lang in ‘Rocky III’ (1982)
After having claimed the heavyweight title in the Rocky II rematch against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), Rocky Balboa gets set to battle the top-ranked challenger, James “Clubber” Lang (Mr. T.), in defense of his title. The stakes for this fight only climb higher when the Lang taunts Rocky’s wife, Adrian (Talia Shire), at a press conference and injures Mickey in a pre-fight brawl that worsens his heart condition, ultimately leading to his death. Clubber is an intimidating, powerful puncher based loosely on real life fighters Sonny Liston and George Foreman and had served five years in prison for aggravated assault. With the death of his mentor clouding his mind, a listless Rocky loses the tilt to Lang and surrenders the heavyweight belt.
7. Adonis Creed vs. Leo “The Lion” Sporino in ‘Creed’ (2015)
Attempting to emerge from the shadow of his legendary father, heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) enters the ring against a twitchy, fast puncher with power, Leo “The Lion” Sporino (Gabriel Rosado). With Rocky in his corner as his trainer, Adonis battles the demons of his father’s legacy and living up to sky-high expectations. With the spotlight of the boxing world on him, he fights for himself and for the memory of his father. The brutal back and forth with Sporino, shot by director Ryan Coolger in a single take, is still lauded by fans of both movie and boxing fans. Sporino proves to be more than a worthy opponent, but Creed ultimately earns a hard-fought victory.
6. Apollo Creed vs. Ivan Drago in ‘Rocky IV’ (1985)
In the prequel to Rocky IV‘s climactic Rocky vs. Ivan Drago fight, Drago (Dolph Lundgren) must first deal with the flashy former heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed. Touted as the greatest fighter ever produced from behind the Iron Curtain, Drago is an enormous mauler with unimaginable punching power. In an exhibition bout that Creed takes too lightly, the fight is a costly one that sees Drago beat Creed so badly that the elder boxer dies in the ring as a result of the relentless barrage of punches from the Russian upstart. Having to stand in Creed’s corner and watch his foil and friend die in the ring, Rocky vows revenges, setting up an even bigger tilt between Drago and Rocky later in the film.
5. Rocky vs Clubber Lang (Rematch) in ‘Rocky III’ (1982)
In the first real revenge matchup in the Rocky series, Rocky’s rematch with Clubber Lang is all about getting some payback. Following Mickey’s death, Rocky is more determined than ever to settle the score with the mohawked masher that had pounded him in their previous bout. It looks like Rocky may lose again early in the fight as Lang comes out like a man possessed, but Balboa digs deep and finds the inspiration to turn the tide and knock out Lang in glorious fashion.
4. Adonis Creed vs Viktor Drago in ‘Creed II’ (2018)
This fight is billed as a matchup between the two sons of previous heavyweight champions Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago. It’s another revenge tilt as Adonis his haunted by memories of his father dying in the ring at the hands of his opponent’s father. Viktor Drago is no slouch himself, as he has tremendous quickness combined with power that has seen him knock out some of the best fighters in the world to earn his shot at Adonis. In an exhausting 12-round brawl, Creed avenges his father and earns a degree of satisfaction that he honored the Creed legacy.
3. Rocky vs. Apollo Creed in ‘Rocky’ (1976)
What can you say about the one that started it all? A local kid from South Philly fighting the reigning heavyweight champion of the world was supposed to be a gimmick, but it turned into a legendary boxing match for the ages. When the flashy and smooth talking Apollo Creed wanted to drum up some national attention for a fight to defend his title, he came up with the idea of taking on the inexperienced but tough-as-nails Rocky Balboa from the City of Brotherly Love. It was supposed to be a cakewalk for the champ, but he failed to take into account what he couldn’t see — the heart of a lion. It’s always been said: “Don’t judge the size of the dog in the fight, judge the size in the fight in the dog.” What ensued was a magical brawl that went the distance. Both fighters ended up bloodied as Creed barely retained the belt by split decision and Rocky earned the respect of a nation.
2. Rocky vs Ivan Drago in ‘Rocky IV’ (1985)
It was billed as East vs. West, Russia vs. the United States. Rocky would not only be traveling to Russia to take on Ivan Drago, he also would be fighting as a representative of the American way of life during the height of the Cold War. In a fight to avenge the death of his foe-turned-best friend, Apollo Creed, Rocky was an underdog against the machine of a man Ivan Drago. While Drago trained on state-of-the-art equipment and was shot full of performance-enhancing steroids, Rocky was given a rural and dilapidated outhouse in the middle of nowhere to train for the fight. Following one of the greatest training montages in the history of film, Rocky and Drago beat each other senseless all the way to the final round before Rocky finds an extra gear and knocks the Russian fighter on his butt. It is truly one of the most stirring moments in the franchise’s storied history.
1. Rocky vs Apollo Creed (Rematch) in ‘Rocky II’ (1979)
A rematch of the first film’s fight, Rocky vs. Apollo Creed II was a completely different animal. There was no chance that Apollo was going to underestimate the upstart challenger this time around. “Fool me once, shame on you” and all that. That meant Rocky had his work cut out for him, as he would not be able to sneak up on the champion a second time. After trading barrages of punches throughout a punishing 15-round fight, the local kid from Philly was finally able to knock out the champ and claim the coveted title of “Heavyweight Champion of the World.” The post-fight ceremony also gave us perhaps the most iconic line from any sports film ever made with Rocky triumphantly exclaiming, “Yo, Adrian! I did it!”
