Rocky Fights: Every Fight in the Rocky and Creed Movies

Across nine films, Rocky Balboa and Adonis Creed fight twelve headline bouts, and each movie builds toward at least one of them. The twelve fights below cover the six Rocky films and the three Creed films, and every fight has its own section with the setting, the round count and the result. If you are planning a marathon, the rocky movies in order guide sets out the viewing sequence, and the rocky movies hub has the full film list.

Who does Rocky fight in each movie? In Rocky (1976), directed by John G. Avildsen, he faces heavyweight champion Apollo Creed. Rocky II (1979), directed by Sylvester Stallone, brings the rematch. Rocky III (1982) adds Clubber Lang, Rocky IV (1985) adds Ivan Drago, Rocky V (1990) turns to Tommy 'Machine' Gunn, and Rocky Balboa (2006) sends an older Rocky against Mason 'The Line' Dixon. The Creed films then move the spotlight to Adonis Creed, who fights Ricky Conlan in Creed (2015), Viktor Drago in Creed II (2018) and Damian 'Dame' Anderson in Creed III (2023).

Two choices shape the list. First, Apollo Creed against Ivan Drago is included even though Rocky only works the corner, because it is the bout that drives Rocky IV. Second, the list sticks to the headline fights, so smaller names such as Spider Rico, played by Pedro Lovell in the Rocky Balboa cast, sit outside the main event of their film.

Rocky Balboa loses a split decision to Apollo Creed in Rocky (1976), directed by John G. Avildsen, yet he is still standing after all fifteen rounds, and that was the only prize he wanted. The bout is a Bicentennial title fight on New Year's Day in Philadelphia, arranged after Apollo's scheduled challenger is injured about five weeks out. Apollo treats the unknown Italian Stallion as a publicity showpiece, and promoter George Jergens puts up a purse of 150,000 dollars.

Apollo makes a showy entrance, and Rocky answers by dropping him in the first round. That knockdown changes the night, because the champion stops performing and starts fighting. From there the bout is a slugging match over the full distance, and Rocky's eye swells nearly shut and has to be cut open so he can see.

The result hardly matters to him. The night before, Rocky told Adrian that he did not expect to win and only wanted to last fifteen rounds, something no one had done against Apollo. When Jergens reads out the split decision, Rocky is already calling for Adrian, who joins him in the ring. Apollo says there will be no rematch and Rocky says he does not want one (the sequel ignores both statements). The film itself is covered at rocky 1976.

Rocky Balboa beats Apollo Creed in the rematch in Rocky II (1979), directed by Sylvester Stallone, and becomes heavyweight champion when he gets up at the count of nine and Apollo cannot. The rematch exists because Apollo, stung by accusations that the first fight was fixed, keeps taunting Rocky in public. Rocky had retired after being told an eye injury could cost him his sight, and he has since married Adrian and run short of money because he cannot read well and has no steady work.

Adrian opposes the fight, a stressful argument leads to a premature birth, and she falls into a coma after the delivery. When she wakes she tells Rocky to go win. Mickey trains him in Philadelphia, and the run through the streets with a crowd of children behind him is, in my opinion, the image that defines the film (more on that in the rocky training montage guide).

In the ring, Apollo plans a quick knockout, but Rocky takes the punishment and survives. The fight reaches the 15th round with Apollo ahead on points and determined to finish it, and both men hit the canvas in the last exchange. Rocky beats the count at nine, Apollo stays down, and Rocky calls out to Adrian, who is watching at home. The film is covered at rocky 2.

Clubber Lang ends the first fight in Rocky III (1982), directed by Stallone, with a second round knockout, and Rocky loses the heavyweight title he has held for five years. The result is less a shock than a bill coming due. Mickey admits that he hand picked Rocky's earlier challengers, so the champion's ten title defenses came against opponents chosen for him. Lang, played by Mr. T, has spent the build up saying exactly that.

Rocky accepts the challenge anyway, but he prepares in a public hotel ballroom while Lang works with single minded focus. Just before the bout, Lang shoves Mickey backstage, and Mickey suffers a heart attack. Rocky wants to call the fight off, and Mickey urges him to go on.

The fight lasts two rounds. Mickey dies soon afterward, and Rocky is too grief stricken to train. In my opinion this is the bleakest bout in the saga, because the defeat belongs to comfort and distraction as much as to Lang's punches. For the opponent himself, see clubber lang, and for the film see rocky 3.

Rocky knocks out a worn out Clubber Lang in the third round of their Madison Square Garden rematch and regains the heavyweight title. The road back runs through Los Angeles, where Apollo Creed offers to coach him and the two work in a gym. With help from Adrian, Rocky deals with the loss of Mickey, and Apollo and trainer Duke teach him footwork, speed and skill.

That change in method decides the rematch. Rocky wins the first round, then gets knocked down twice in the second while wearing Lang down. In the third, Lang loses his temper and tires, and Rocky knocks him out. The contrast with the first fight is clear: a champion who coasted in a ballroom becomes a technician who trained in a gym.

Afterward Rocky repays Apollo with a friendly sparring match, and the film ends with both men throwing the first punch at the same moment. There is no winner and no result, which fits a rivalry that has turned into friendship. That sparring session is a closing beat rather than a fight in its own right, so it sits inside this entry.

Ivan Drago beats Apollo Creed to death in an exhibition bout in Las Vegas in Rocky IV (1985), directed by Stallone. Rocky is not the one fighting, but this is the fight that sets up the rest of the film. Drago is a Soviet fighter backed by high tech training and drugs, and he arrives in the United States as a champion amateur with his manager, his wife and a team of scientific trainers.

Apollo, now retired, takes the exhibition to defend American pride. Rocky works his corner as the match begins. The bout turns into a one sided beating, and Drago hits Apollo so hard that Apollo dies in the ring.

What happens next is the real engine of the story. Rocky, grieving and guilty, decides he must fight Drago himself, and the Moscow fight follows. If you want the full picture of the opponent, ivan drago has the character profile, and apollo creed covers the man who goes down in this scene. The film itself is at rocky 4.

Rocky knocks out Ivan Drago in the final round of their Christmas Day fight in the Soviet Union in Rocky IV (1985), and in my opinion it is the saga's clearest clash of two training philosophies in one ring. Rocky puts up his own money, then leaves Adrian and the family behind for a remote Siberian cabin with Duke, where farm work and the landscape do the conditioning. Drago prepares in a modern lab under the eye of his handlers. Adrian doubts the plan but travels to Moscow to be there on the night.

Rocky takes heavy punishment early. Then the room shifts: as the rounds pass, the Soviet crowd starts to cheer for the American. Drago turns on his handlers and says he fights for himself, and in the last round Rocky puts him down for good.

The speech that follows, in which Rocky says that if he and Drago can change then everybody can, wraps a Cold War feud inside a boxing match. The bill arrives in the next film, where the damage from this bout drives the story of Rocky V. Cast and release details are at rocky 4.

Rocky Balboa beats Tommy 'Machine' Gunn in a street fight that closes Rocky V (1990), directed by John G. Avildsen, with no ring and no title at stake. Tommy is the young boxer Rocky trained at the reopened Mighty Mick's Gym after a brain condition forced Rocky to stop fighting himself. Promoter George Washington Duke then lures Tommy away, and Tommy takes the heavyweight title but is dismissed as a paper champion who never beat a real name.

That label is what brings him back to his old trainer. He wants respect, and the quickest route is to beat Rocky, so he challenges him to a fight in the street. Rocky accepts and wins, backed by his family and the neighborhood.

The story behind the scenes is as interesting as the brawl. Avildsen said Rocky was meant to die and that the studio changed the ending about two weeks into filming, as CBS Philadelphia reported in 2014. For the film, see rocky 5, and for the training that built Tommy, see the rocky training montage guide.

Rocky Balboa loses a close split decision to heavyweight champion Mason 'The Line' Dixon after ten rounds in Las Vegas in Rocky Balboa (2006), directed by Stallone. Rocky is an older widower who runs a Philadelphia restaurant and still mourns Adrian. A television network runs a computer simulation of a young Rocky against Dixon, who is unbeaten but disliked by fans, and the simulation has Rocky winning. The debate that follows stirs up the old urge to fight, so Rocky applies to get his boxing license back and the board grants it after some pressure.

Dixon's team then offers a charity exhibition match in Las Vegas. Rocky's son Robert first objects, but a heartfelt talk about perseverance brings the two together and Robert joins the training. Rocky trains in a rougher, old school way with a lot of heavy lifting.

In Las Vegas the fight is tougher than expected. Dixon dominates early but hurts his left hand, and Rocky fights back, knocks him down and lasts all ten rounds. Dixon takes the decision, yet the crowd cheers Rocky, who is satisfied simply to have gone the distance. Afterward he visits Adrian's grave and tells her that they did it. Dixon is played by Antonio Tarver, and the film is covered at rocky balboa 2006.

'Pretty' Ricky Conlan beats Adonis Creed on a split decision at Goodison Park in Liverpool in Creed (2015), directed by Ryan Coogler, but only after twelve rounds in which Adonis puts the champion on the canvas. The fight exists because of a name. Adonis boxes as Hollywood and wins a local bout, and then the press learns he is Apollo Creed's son. Conlan's camp, with its champion facing prison time and needing one last big payday, offers a title shot if he fights as a Creed. After some doubt, and with Bianca's support, he says yes.

The preparation turns on Rocky Balboa, who collapses and learns he has lymphoma. Adonis tells him he will not fight unless Rocky starts chemotherapy, and Rocky agrees.

In the ring, the knockdown and the full distance win Adonis the crowd, and Conlan shows him respect even though the judges split against him. Tony Bellew, who plays Conlan, told Sky Sports about the crowd shoot at Goodison Park. For the lead character see adonis creed, and for the film see creed 2015.

Adonis Creed keeps his heavyweight title in the first Viktor Drago fight in Creed II (2018), directed by Steven Caple Jr., but only because Viktor is disqualified for an illegal blow. Adonis is champion and newly engaged to Bianca when Ivan Drago, broke and living in Ukraine, sends his son Viktor to settle the old score from Ivan's defeat by Rocky decades earlier. Promoter Buddy Marcelle packages the title fight.

Adonis goes in underprepared. Rocky has refused to work his corner, so Adonis trains with Tony 'Little Duke' Evers after moving to Los Angeles with Bianca, who has just learned she is pregnant. Viktor beats him badly, and the belt survives only on the disqualification. In my opinion that makes it a hollow kind of win, closer to a loss.

The real damage comes afterward, when Adonis slumps physically and emotionally and drifts from Bianca, until his mother Mary Anne persuades Rocky to help. viktor drago has the profile of the younger Drago, and the film is covered at creed 2.

Adonis Creed wins the Moscow rematch with Viktor Drago when Ivan throws in the towel in round ten, after Adonis has knocked Viktor down twice. The rematch is built on a change of method. Rocky agrees to train Adonis after all, and with Little Duke he takes him to the desert, where the work is about absorbing punishment and fighting from close range, the opposite of how the first fight went. Along the way Bianca gives birth to Amara, who is born deaf, and Rocky becomes her godfather.

On the other side, Ivan drives Viktor hard, and Viktor is shaken when his estranged mother Ludmilla appears at a state dinner. In the ring, Adonis takes heavy damage before the fight turns. After the second knockdown, Ludmilla walks out and Ivan stops it to protect his son.

Ivan tells Viktor that losing is acceptable, and the two return to training in Ukraine with the focus on family rather than revenge. Rocky travels to Vancouver to reconcile with his son Robert and meets his grandson Logan, while Adonis and Bianca visit Apollo's grave with baby Amara. In my opinion the Drago story ends better here than a sequel built on an old grudge usually manages.

Adonis Creed knocks out Damian 'Dame' Anderson in the final round of the Battle of Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium in Creed III (2023), directed by Michael B. Jordan, and takes the heavyweight title back. It is the only Creed fight that grows out of a friendship. Dame was Donnie's closest friend as a teenager in Los Angeles, a promising boxer who dreamed of being world champion, until a night that sent Dame to prison while Donnie walked away and cut contact.

When Dame is released, he asks for a title shot and Donnie refuses. Then Viktor Drago, the scheduled opponent for Donnie's fighter Chavez, is attacked, and Donnie lets Dame step in. Dame takes the title by knockout with dirty tactics, and Chavez's injured shoulder is badly hurt. Letters Dame wrote from prison, a clash on a beach and Mary-Anne's death follow, and Donnie finally tells Bianca the truth about that night.

Pushed by Bianca, he comes out of retirement and trains with Duke and a recovered Drago. In the stadium, memories of the past cloud his mind and he goes down in the last round, but he beats the count and finishes Dame. The two former friends make peace, each accepting a share of the blame, and the film closes with Donnie shadowboxing with Amara in the empty ring. The film is at creed 3.

The Rocky fights were staged and shot as choreographed set pieces, but several productions leaned on real hits, real boxers and real crowds. On Rocky IV, Stallone has said Dolph Lundgren's punch put him in the hospital for four days, according to Good Morning America.

Rocky Balboa was shot with a deliberate television look. ESPN reported that the Las Vegas fight was filmed to resemble an HD tape broadcast, that fight shooting began on December 4 in Las Vegas after Stallone broke his foot, and that Antonio Tarver hurt a knuckle during the shoot, with a knockdown from the filming kept in the finished fight.

Creed (2015) shot a real stadium crowd. Tony Bellew, who plays Conlan, told Sky Sports about the crowd shoot at Goodison Park. Creed II began filming on March 15, 2018 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which ties the newer films to the original's most famous location. For the training scenes that lead into each fight, the rocky training montage guide goes through them one by one.

In my opinion, the best Rocky fight is still the first one, Rocky against Apollo Creed in Rocky (1976), and the worst is the street fight with Tommy 'Machine' Gunn. I rank fights on three things: what is at stake for the characters, how the fight is built from the training before it, and how well the result lands. A fight can lose and still rank high, as the top of this list shows.

1. Rocky vs Apollo Creed I (Rocky, 1976). Rocky never expects to win, only to last fifteen rounds, and the film lets him do it. The first round knockdown, the eye cut open and the embrace with Adrian while the decision is read make the finish better than any title belt would have been.
2. Rocky vs Ivan Drago (Rocky IV). The Siberian cabin against the Soviet lab is the clearest training contrast in the series, and the turn of the Moscow crowd gives the fight a real arc. The speech afterward is where the film loses some of its grip for me, but the fight earns its place.
3. Adonis Creed vs Viktor Drago II (Creed II). Two generations settle their score, and the towel from Ivan is a better ending than a knockout would have been.
4. Rocky vs Apollo Creed II (Rocky II). Both men on the canvas in the 15th round, Rocky up at nine. It is simple and it works.
5. Rocky vs Clubber Lang II (Rocky III). The footwork and speed taught by Apollo and Duke change how Rocky fights, which makes the rematch feel earned.
6. Adonis Creed vs Ricky Conlan (Creed). A loss that wins the crowd, shot at Goodison Park, and a fine echo of the original.
7. Adonis Creed vs Dame Anderson (Creed III). The most personal grudge in the Creed films, with Dodger Stadium as the stage.
8. Rocky vs Mason Dixon (Rocky Balboa). Going ten rounds as an older man is moving, although the stakes are lower than in the rest of the list.
9. Rocky vs Clubber Lang I (Rocky III). Mickey's heart attack outweighs the two round knockout.
10. Adonis Creed vs Viktor Drago I (Creed II). A win by disqualification is the least satisfying kind.
11. Apollo Creed vs Ivan Drago (Rocky IV). It is the most consequential bout in the series and the least like a contest, since Rocky is only watching from the corner.
12. Rocky vs Tommy Gunn (Rocky V). A street fight with no title, no ring and a shaky build up, though the original idea of Rocky dying afterward makes it an interesting what if.

What was Rocky's toughest fight? My pick is the Moscow fight with Drago, because the film shows him taking heavy punishment early, and Rocky V opens with a diagnosis of a brain condition that forces him to stop fighting. That is the clearest sign of a fight that cost him more than any other.

If you only have an evening, watch the Moscow fight in Rocky IV and then the Moscow rematch in Creed II, since the second answers the first. To see how whole films stack up, rocky movies ranked has the film order, where to watch rocky lists the streaming options, and the latest on creed 4 sits on its own page.