From Rocky To Creed III: Recapping The Boxing’s Biggest Chronicle

Hollywood’s greatest sporting series, Rocky has entered its fifth decade with its ninth sequel about to be released this spring.

Dating back to 1976, the franchise’s first chapter was released, Rocky featuring Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. Rocky was an amateur boxer who mainly fought around the premises of Philadelphia but soon struck a golden charm as he found himself in the ring with the world heavyweight champ, Apollo Creed.

Rocky lost the fight via split decision but earned the respect of the champ.

In the next chapter, Rocky 2, Balboa was forced to a rematch with Creed. After constant taunting by the champ, Balboa decided to give it a go and came out victorious by technical knock-out.

Five years later, Rocky 3 sees Balboa lifting his family from the trenches of poverty to wealth, establishing himself as a dominant figure in the boxing world. But is then faced with a tough challenge from an arrogant rising boxer Clubber Lang.

Rocky loses the first fight but comes back hard to get back his title in a rematch.

In Rocky 4, a new plot was introduced with international flare added to the mix. The Soviet powerhouse Ivan Drago arrived in the U.S. where he puts Balboa’s close friend, Creed to deathbed in an exhibition bout.

The death of his close friend drives Balboa to challenge Drago to an unsanctioned 15-round fight in Russia. Rocky defies all odds and comes out victorious after surviving the early onslaught of the Russian.

In the aftermath of the fight, Rocky returns to America and is forced to retire from boxing due to the excessive trauma he had been receiving over the years. He decides to run a small gym in his native Philadelphia that was left by his trainer. He trains a young boxer, Tommy Gunn who turned his back when success comes for him.

He urges Rocky to fight in the ring but Balboa refuses to do it due to health concerns. But an outside bar scuffle spurs a street fight between the two, with Rocky giving him the lesson that he needed it badly.

After almost two decades, Rocky returned in Rocky Balboa where he is seen running a restaurant. Rocky has a strained relationship with his son, Robert but in came the villain,  Mason Dixon who tried to show himself superior to Rocky. Rocky fights an exhibition match in order to regain the trust of his son. He loses by split decision but doesn’t mind, instead pleased that he was able to go the distance one last time.

After six Rocky pieces, in came the Creed series which saw Michael B. Jordan taking the role of Balboa’s close friend, Apollo’s illegitimate child, Adonis. Adonis heads to Phili and convinces Balboa to train him as he wanted to remove the tag of false Creed off his shoulders.

Adonis and Rocky work together, taking on Rocky Conlon for a title fight. He loses by split decision but proves himself a worthy successor to his father’s legacy.

In Creed 2, Adonis parts ways with Rocky and embarks to fight Ivan Drago’s son Viktor who has grown up in disgrace with his father comes into the picture. Adonis losses the first bout but was soon able to sort out his relations with Rocky who pushed him over the line in the rematch.

Now with Creed 3 just around the corner, it will be the first time the theatrical model is being shooted without Sylvester Stallone. It will be interesting to see how the film works without its spearhead.