Who'd win a bout between peak Rocky and Adonis? 'Creed II' director weighs in
Earlier this month — and just for ships and giggles — Sylvester Stallone asked fans on social media who they thought would win in a fantasy fight between his Rocky Balboa and Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed if both boxers were in their prime. As our Ethan Alter reported at the time, responses skewed heavily in the Italian Stallion’s favor — unsurprising, given it was Stallone’s followers who were opining.
Steven Caple Jr., director of the new hit sequel Creed II, disagrees. (Albeit with a slight wink of acknowledgment that he’s currently promoting an Adonis Creed-driven movie.)
“I’d have to go with Mike, I’d have to go with Adonis Creed,” Caple told Yahoo Entertainment (watch above). “He can southpaw. He switches up [mid-fight]. … He can fight both ways. He has that power. He has a little bit of his dad in him too, which we know is always trouble for Rocky.”
Carl Weathers’s Apollo Creed dispatched Balboa in the first Rocky (1976) before Rock won the rematch in Rocky II (1979), while the results of a secret match teased at the end of Rocky III (1982) weren’t revealed until the first Creed (2015). It was Apollo who took the tiebreaker.
“But that’s so tough,” Caple continued. “Because Rocky would not give up. Rocky can take a punch. That is a hard one. I’m gonna go with Creed.”
Still, neither is the true heavyweight champ of Rocky-Creed fighters in the director’s eyes.
“I think Apollo could take both of them, to be honest,” Caple said. “He was like the Ali of the time, but he also had that power speed. … Just the way Apollo moved. He was smooth. … He was cut and ripped too, and he had height over both of these guys. So I’d probably have to go Apollo.”
Creed II is now playing.
Watch Steven Caple Jr. talk about almost killing off Rocky Balboa in Creed II:
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