Could Rocky Balboa beat Adonis Creed? Fans respond to Sylvester Stallone's question
The highly anticipated Creed II, due in theaters Thanksgiving weekend, revives one of the oldest rivalries in (fictional) sports history: Creed vs. Drago. The battle between these two boxing dynasties began in 1986’s Rocky IV, when mountainous Soviet fighter Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) straight up killed former U.S. champ Apollo Creed (Carl Wethers) in the ring. Flash forward three decades, and their sons, Viktor (Florian Munteanu) and Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) are going for another round. Luckily for Adonis, he’s got the only man to defeat Drago Sr. — and basically end the Cold War in the process — in his corner: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone).
Rocky may be a teacher rather than a fighter these days, but that doesn’t mean that Stallone isn’t thinking about his alter ego’s in-ring legacy. In an Instagram post that he also posted to Twitter, he asked his millions of followers a simple question: “Just for fun, who do you think would win, Rocky Balboa in his prime, or Adonis Creed in his?”
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A post shared by Sly Stallone (@officialslystallone) on Nov 1, 2018 at 12:39pm PDT
As you might imagine, the Internet had a lot of thoughts about this potential matchup between the two movie boxing legends. And befitting his underdog status, the Italian Stallion is the clear people’s choice.
Rocky .. always Rocky!! 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/KZxtciwbbl
— Bekki Cutts (@BekkiCutts) November 1, 2018
Rocky Balboa would totally dominate Adonis. Daddy Drago was more powerful too than his son and Rocky Beat him. I don’t think Adonis could have beat Daddy Drago. Rocky is Michael Jordan / Lebron and Adonis is Dwayne Wade / Kyrie.
— Ben Ryan Metzger (@BenRyanMetzger) November 1, 2018
Nobody is takin rock he ain’t goin down for nobody. Balboa in the 1st. @S_Thoma5
— Gio (@gio7579) November 1, 2018
Rocky in the 6th.
— Anthony cain (@AnthonyCain23) November 1, 2018
Rocky.
You took down Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago, Apollo Creed, and picked up and body slammed Hulk freakin Hogan! #EyeOfTheTiger— Swofford (@TheSwofford) November 1, 2018
Rocky would win if he ever actually blocked a punch.
— Schrier (@Schridogg666) November 1, 2018
Sounds like a knockout for Balboa, but the younger Creed definitely had his champions.
Adonis Creed would win, of course. In Rocky’s prime, he was fighting bums. He missed his prime. Go watch Rocky I; he tells Mickey all about it. 👌🏻
— Chris Stevenson (@_BringTheHammer) November 1, 2018
I think Adonis today is one part from his Father Apollo and one part from Rocky . Adonis fights from the Heart like Rocky . But before the training and the relationship with Rocky the latter would have won ?
— Martina Philippi (@Rechtsausleger) November 1, 2018
ADONIS pic.twitter.com/Gg3zKjhfLL
— Julian Ramirez ︽?︽ (@cooljulian5) November 1, 2018
Well I was to say Rocky, but Adonis is trained by Rocky and Rocky learned from Apollo so I think Adonis would win
— Pat Horne (@PatHorn84867606) November 1, 2018
Of course, some fans took the assignment as seriously as sports journalists.
Kind of hard to know since the whole point of Rocky was that he sort of missed his prime and got a crazy outside shot because of how cool “Italian Stallion” sounded to Apollo Creed, right? Just wondering if he ever had a real “prime.” I yield to YOUR expertise, though, sir!
— JD Brooks (@JDBrooks79) November 1, 2018
Tough hypothetical because Rocky’s prime was probably when he beat Creed’s dad in Rocky 2. Overachieved the rest of the way. Better hypothetical: Could Adonis Creed have defeated Mr. T or Drago?
— David Dorsey (@DavidADorsey) November 1, 2018
Who was Adonis trained by. Question i need answered before i can make decision
— Good_ol_Mr._Wilson (@WilsonGill11) November 1, 2018
As for Yahoo Entertainment’s pick in the Balboa vs. Creed bout? We’re going with this wild card choice.
Paulie for the win! 🤜🏼 pic.twitter.com/Zn1vv8BXMN
— Ennui’s Cat (@ennuis_cat) November 1, 2018
Creed II enters the theatrical ring on Nov. 21.
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