ThoughCreed 3has been released recently and asks a further question about Adonis Creed’s boxing abilities, there have been a number of truly great - and not-so-great - boxers featured in the movies sinceRockywas originally released in 1976.
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Over the franchise’s nine films, there have been a variety of boxers. While fighting style and attitude to boxing vary between them, one thing that almost always remains the same is a determination to win. This doesn’t help them stay undefeated forever, though, as virtually none of the boxers in the movies have avoided defeat.
8Viktor Drago
The villain fromCreed 2, while the son of a great champion and a strong fighter himself with 25 wins, doesn’t seem to be as dangerous overall as some of the other competitors in the franchise. Still, he is one of the best boxers in the franchise, with his only two known lossescoming from Adonis Creed himself.
Though beaten inCreed 2by Adonis, Drago showed himself to be one of the greats. Putting on brutal performances but constantly facing pressure from his father behind the scenes, Viktor Drago could have been even better than he was with the right training and care.
7Pretty Ricky Conlan
In the firstCreedmovie, there was so much focus on both Rocky and Adonis that it was easy to forget the other significant boxing champion in the film. Pretty Ricky Conlan was the world light heavyweight champion, and no matter what path led him to have to surrender his title for a jail sentence at the end ofCreed, he remained undefeated when he gave up the title.
Coming intoCreed, Conlan was 37-0. He also defeated Adonis Creed, albeit by a split decision, mirroring the ending to the firstRockymovie. Despite not staying unbeaten forever, Conlan’s main career run before his career was interrupted was flawless, making him a surely great boxer and champion.
6Mason Dixon
The opposition that faced Rocky in his last ever boxing match inRocky Balboa, Mason Dixon, is not to be laughed at for taking on and just barely beating a sixty-year-old Rocky. Balboa was one of the greatest champions of all time, and Dixon went into their exhibition bout inRocky Balboawith a record of 43-0.
He also managed to defeat Rocky in their exhibition match, though it was a close affair, and Dixon was 25 years younger than Rocky. If he had faced Rocky in his prime, then there is almost no way he would have defeated him, but a champion of that caliber speaks for himself.
5Ivan Drago
It takes a devastating man to be able to defeat Apollo Creed, even in an exhibition match that Creed took lightly. It was also after Creed’s prime, which accounts for some of his loss. Drago did, however, beat Apollo Creed so badly that the man died, which has to count for something. No matter how sadistic Drago is in the ring, he is still a great boxer.
But despite his size, Drago isn’t quick enough on his feet, and this showed inhis match with Rocky in the Soviet Union. It was there that Drago was beaten, and his own home crowd turned on him and began cheering for Rocky. It is hard to say how great a boxer he really is when taking away the impressive per-square-inch punching power he garnered.
4Clubber Lang
Another impressive champion, Clubber Lang managed to become the world heavyweight champion inRocky IIIwhen he defeated Rocky. He proved himself better than Rocky and was able to take him down in a brutal fashion. Rocky was distracted during their first fight because of Mickey’s sudden death moments earlier, but this didn’t change the fact that Clubber was just better than him.
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That is until Clubber was faced with a Rocky that had been trained further to be a better actual boxer by Apollo Creed. Clubber couldn’t face down the new version of Rocky, and he was brought down in a fairly quick fashion right back in a brutal fight. This doesn’t change the fact that Clubber’s speed and strength make it seem as if he could take down many of the other competitors in theRockyandCreedmovies.
3Adonis Creed
There is nothing about Adonis Creed that screams his abilities are better than some of the boxers in the heyday ofRockymovies, but his tenacity and ability to keep pushing are on a level with Rocky and his own father. Having the genetics of Apollo Creed and the training from Rocky, which was in part given to him by Adonis’ father, makes for a powerful boxer andhelped make Creed 3 so great.
Adonis has a great record as a champion, only suffering one professional loss. He even managed to return inCreed 3to beat Damian in a brutal match. All of this has already proven, with his legacy not necessarily finished yet, that Adonis is one of the very best in the history of these movies,and theCreed 3box officehas represented how much he has become his own hero.
2Rocky Balboa
Rocky Balboa is not the best boxer in theRockymovies. It is close, but he is the best fighter. His ability to take as many blows as he does, known as his iron chin, is his finest quality. Once he actually gets serious training, particularly from Apollo Creed, he becomes a much better boxer and is at his best in the third and fourthRockymovies.
But what constantly shines through is his ability totake more punches than his opponents. He outlasts them; he doesn’t actually box to victory in a lot of bouts. He has more losses on his record than anyone else on the list of the best, but his victories show more than anything how much he deserves to be called nearly the best.
1Apollo Creed
It is clear that Apollo Creed is the best boxer theRockyorCreedmovies have seen. Despite his over-confidence and showmanship, Apollo was not only a great world heavyweight champion, but he beat Rocky in their first encounter, lasting as much brutality as Rocky did. He lost the second match, but even with Rocky at his best,they went the distance into the final secondsof the final round before Apollo went down.
This great champion lost and was killed in the ring by Ivan Drago years after retiring, but that loss doesn’t change what he was capable of in his prime. He was definitely the best boxer, shown by the fact that passing on his speed and in-ring intelligence to Rocky was what made Rocky into the very best form of himself.
