Which fictional boxer would win such a looney-tune fight?
Paulie might have a problem with some of these fantasy boxing scenarios, but Sylvester Stallone sure doesn’t.
Stallone posed a hypothetical matchup question, asking his Instagram followers: “Just for fun, who do you think would win, Rocky Balboa in his prime, or Adonis Creed in his?”
The post garnered a huge response in overwhelming favor of the Italian Stallion (of course), but there were some interesting weigh-ins on the subject.
First up was Frank Stallone, who’s not only an icon of the “Rocky” soundtrack, but spent some time in the ring as a real life boxer in the 1970’s and was part of the Rocky III “Eye of the Tiger” boxing montage at the opening of the film.
“No contest,” Stallone says of the matchup, “Adonis would get knocked stiff in the first round I know cause my brother and [I] sparred and [Sly] punches very hard. I think Adonis has a glass jaw lol.”
Multiple-time light heavyweight world champion Antonio Tarver, better known in the Rockyverse as Mason “The Line” Dixon, put it simply to his Rocky Balboa co-star: “You already know.” Tarver has the best experience to answer this question since he filmed the Rocky series’ only fictional boxing match-up with Stallone, referred to by Paulie as a “cartoon fight.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stepped into the fray, but stood firmly in Rocky’s corner with his answer: “Respectable question, but Balboa wins all the way. I’ll even spot you one Spider Rico for good measure.”
Responding to Sly Stallone and Dwayne Johnson, Creed II star Michael B. Jordan put in a good word for his character, saying: “Hold up, hold up – Adonis isn’t even in his prime yet. Let’s get to Creed 5 first and ask again.”
Apollo Creed vs. Adonis Creed
Stallone continued with another match-up, asking who would win in a battle between Apollo Creed versus his son, Adonis Creed.
Michael B. Jordan: “I doubt Apollo would ever fight his son he never had a chance to meet. He probably would train Adonis to become a better fighter and a better man than he was! That’s what fatherhood is all about.”
Frank Stallone: “Not even a contest, Apollo would knockout Adonis.”
Adonis Creed vs. Clubber Lang
Although Mr. T got the majority of fan votes here, Sly stood up for Adonis and silenced everyone with his final, authoritative comment on the match-up subject.
“I 100% believe that ADONIS CREED is WAY too fast, too STRONG, too DETERMINED and would EASILY knock out CLUBBER LANG in 3 rounds or less! Believe it. NO ONE [knows] the characters better than me … No one …”
Well said.
