Rocky & Apollo’s Original Title Fight Gets A Rocky III Twist In Stunning Art

The ending fight with Apollo in the original Rocky gets a Rocky 3 twist in a stunning new piece of art. Released in 1976, the sports classic sees Sylvester Stallone starring as Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer in Philadelphia who eventually finds himself training for a match against Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed, the heavyweight boxing world champion. The first film would become a major success, launching a franchise that now includes six main installments and three Creed spinoff movies.

Now, in a new piece of art shared by Sylvester Stallone Romania on Instagram, Rocky’s fight against Apollo in the first film gets the freeze-frame treatment, a seeming homage to the Rocky 3 ending. Check out the art below:

The final moments of Rocky 3 feature Rocky and Apollo engaging in a friendly sparring match, with the scene then freeze-framing at the exact moment the two characters try to hit each other, leaving the outcome of the fight a mystery.

Rocky & Creed’s Friendship Explained (& Why It’s Great)

Although they are fierce competitors in the first film, the origins of Rocky’s friendship with Apollo can arguably be traced back to their first fight. Creed doesn’t take Rocky particularly seriously at first, but Stallone’s character delivers a powerful uppercut during the Rocky ending fight’s first round, knocking Creed down. This was the first time Creed had ever been knocked down in his boxing career, and it’s arguably the origin of his respect for his competitor.

After getting knocked down, Creed would go on to win the fight, but Rocky takes countless blows in the process, and his resilience and refusal to quit is presented as one of his most admirable qualities. Rocky 2 ends with an intense rematch between Balboa and Apollo in which the former character actually wins, and it’s this shocking loss that spurs a change in ego for Weathers’ character, and a proper acknowledgment of his competitor as a great fighter.

It’s not until Rocky 3 that the two characters’ friendship is really explored in any meaningful way, but it remains a franchise highlight because of the competitive foundation the dynamic is built upon. The filming ending on a freeze-frame of both characters throwing punches at the same time during a friendly rematch symbolizes their equal skill level as competitors, further solidifying their bond. What makes the friendship between Rocky and Creed particularly memorable, of course, is also the fact that Apollo dies in the next movie, giving the whole dynamic a tragic edge.