Rocky Balboa vs Ivan Drago, billed as East vs West, was an unsanctioned, famous boxing match held in Moscow, Russia on Christmas Day. The boxing match was Balboa's attempt to avenge Apollo Creed's death; who died at the hands of Drago in Las Vegas, Nevada. The boxing commission stated that they would not sanction the fight so Balboa had to give up his title in order to fight Drago. Most people were afraid of Rocky's well being after Drago last fight. To the surprise of the former hostile audience, Balboa was able to knock out Drago in the last round like in the second Superfight on Thanksgiving of 1976 and avenge Apollo. The best and most popular fight was held during political tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and Rocky's win was a major boost to the U.S. during the Cold War!
Background[]
Apollo Creed's demise
Apollo Creed was beaten to his demise by Ivan Drago during the exhibition in Las Vegas. Enraged by the demise of his brother-figure, Rocky went to see the boxing commission to give him a chance to fight Drago. However, the leader of the commission will not sanction the fight and Rocky gave up his belt to fight Drago. A press conference was held for the fight, where the Soviets belittled Rocky as they claimed that Ivan would win for certain, due to Drago's superior genetics, superior strength and superior training. However, Rocky decided to tell the press that he will fight Drago on December 25th to have a Christmas Special Holiday Boxing in Moscow at the Soviet Union and there will be no money making for the unholy sanctioned fight. Rocky kept quiet as he was focus on training.
Rocky training in the winter camp of USSR
After the conference, Ivan flew back to the USSR and began his training for the fight, where he is placed in an incredible gym with fifteen to twenty scientists and trainers all monitoring and focusing on him! He is seen lifting extreme amounts of weight, using various machines for his arms and legs, even running around a private indoor track, whilst his personal trainers tracked the minutiae of Ivan's biology, monitoring even his heart rate. Rocky also flew to the USSR without Adrian, setting up his training base in a humble rural camp at Krasnogorsk with only Duke and brother-in-law Paulie to accompany him.
To prepare for the fight, Drago uses very high-tech equipment, steroid enhancement, and a team of trainers and doctors monitoring his every movement. Rocky, on the other hand, throws heavy logs, chops down trees, pulls an overloaded snow sleigh, jogs in heavy snow and treacherous icy conditions and climbs a mountain. Adrian arrived unexpectedly to give Rocky her support after initially refusing to travel to Russia because of her doubts on his fighting chances. Her arrival increases Rocky's focus and enhances his training as he made all the way to the top of the mountain while shouting "Drago" really loud with echo.
Pre-Fight[]
As we are live from the Soviet Arena in Moscow for the Christmas party (which was recently the PNE Agrodome in Vancouver, Canada), the crowd is chanting to Drago and seeing the arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev, the secretary/president of the Soviet with all members of the Politburo, including Nicolai Koloff! Meanwhile in the dressing room, Rocky Balboa is being prepared with his fists in tape and prays in the restroom to grant some blessing and super strength while his thinking voice said about an exhibition that didn't mean nothing as Apollo's spirit told that he may not understand and could appreciate it, but he will when it's over to believe him.
The Fight[]
Ivan's mural for the Soviet National Anthem
As Rocky goes out of the dressing room with his red, white and blue boxing trunks after the third movie from a rematch against Clubber Lang, Paulie conversates to him about how he gave him respect and wishes to be like him as he kisses his cheek for kindness while rooting him to blast the Russian's teeth out! Then, as the gates open to enter the arena, Rocky and his team were met with boos from the hostile Soviet crowd. Ivan then came out second and was praised with support from his home crowd, he entered the ring and nodded to the secretary Gorbachev, who was sitting in the upper decks of the crowd with the rest of the Politburo for acknowledgement. And as Rocky and Drago take their robes off, the national anthem of the USSR was then played as they unveiled a huge mural of their star athlete. The fighters come to the center of the ring toe to toe. Fun fact for Drago towering above Rocky, this is the true case of David and Goliath from the Christian Bible book of Samuel as they touch gloves and like his previous encounter with Apollo, Ivan slammed his gloves down on top of Balboa's and reportedly said I must break you.
Ivan gets a bad cut by Rocky's heavy damage
In the first round of the fight, Ivan had the upper-hand and came out firing. Unlike his fight with Apollo Creed where he waited and timed his shots, Ivan stormed out of his corner and charged at Rocky Balboa, trapping him in his own corner and unloading with body shots and hooks. Balboa was able to land a few body shots, prompting Ivan to smile and point at his stomach, asking Rocky to bring it. Ivan counters and continues to unload, eventually knocking Balboa down with ease. By the end of the first round, Rocky was already cut and bleeding after Drago threw him to his own corner like a ragdoll. And for the first tough 3 minutes for Rocky Balboa, he did not just fighting his invincible opponent, but also the very hostile crowd and the Russian premiere and to the entire Politburo spectating. Then, Tony questions Rocky what is happening out there and Rocky exhaustedly said that Drago's winning; and he sees three of him out there. Paulie replies to hit the one in the middle and Tony agrees while encourages him to keep taking it until it's got him to take his heart and knock his brains out! Rocky comes back toward the end of the second and silences the Russian crowd by landing a strong right hook that cuts Drago just below his left eye. While Drago is visibly shaken and being weak, Rocky is fired up and assaults Drago, which continues even after the bell rings and picking up the Russian and threw him down to the ground like a wrestler of his exhibition with Thunderlips in 1981. The two boxers continue to hit each other over the next dozen rounds, with Rocky holding his ground despite Drago's powerful punches.
Drago throws jabs at Balboa
However it was clear the difference in punching power, for it was Rocky's endurance, as Drago knocked Rocky down several times, whilst he never scored a single one. Rocky was also rocked and socked around the ring like a ragdoll. But every time he was thrashed around, Rocky bounced back up or kept on coming after Drago, no matter how badly the Russian beat him senseless (so much so Drago noted Rocky to be like a piece of 'iron' and that he was "not human"). In round 9, Drago punched Rocky down so hard his bite guard was knocked out of his mouth, and he got up only to be swiftly knocked down again. Rocky rallied with a good shot or two to Drago's face when he could manage, and pinned Drago against the ropes several times and landed vicious blows the mans torso and ribs. Drago soon became uneasy as he was very shocked at just how much his opponent kept on going. His resilience rallies the previously hostile Soviet crowd to his side and the Empire of USSR decided to call a truce and join the USA's forces to win the Cold War battle!
Rocky knocks out Drago
As the Politburo got enraged by the sudden turn of events, Koloff ran to Drago sided and insulted him and the trainers and commanded him to win the fight by shoving his head. This infuriated Drago to the point, he shoves Koloff off the ring while the crowd is now heckling to Drago that he fights to win; for himself! Meanwhile, Tony tells Rocky that the Soviet crowd is now calling his name while the referee Marty Denkin warns him of Rocky's great heavy injury to stop the fight; but Rocky learns of what Apollo said not to stop the fight until it's over as he didn't come here to end the fight sitting down! Surprisingly, Denkin watches closely. Tony agrees and ordered him to go talk to Drago that he's hurt too! Rocky and Ivan then commenced the 15th and final round to touch their gloves to the end as one of them will stand and the other will fall. Balboa continued taunting Ivan, asking him to throw real punches, which prompted the then infuriated Ivan to throw more punches, but to little avail. Ivan fatigued severely, rendering him helpless as Rocky rallied several punches against Ivan, upper-cutting him into a knockdown. Due to his fatigue, Ivan was incapable of answering the count and nearly fell out of the ring. Drago was awarded the loss via knockout in the fifteenth and final round and Rocky became the two-time champion with a new title!
Aftermath[]
Rocky's iconic victory speech
A bloody and battered Rocky gives a victory speech that's translated to Russian, acknowledging the mutual disdain at first between himself and the crowd. He says it is like the wider disdain between Russians and Americans, but that he and the crowd have come to respect and admire each other during the course of the fight. He even mentioned about his best friend Apollo that he once said no one can change and he fell with honor. Rocky adds that the crowd has seen "two guys killing each other", but he guessed that it's better than 20 million. Rocky finally declares of what he's trying to say is, "That if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!" and the crowd bursts with joy! The Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev stands up and passionately applauds Rocky, and his aides follow suit; even Nicolai Koloff. Rocky ends his speech by wishing his son a Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Year), and throws his arms into the air with the USA flag cape in victory as the crowd applauds on Christmas Day and to the New Years Eve! Now, Apollo would be proud of Rocky to avenge his passing after Mickey Goldmill's against Clubber Lang from the third movie.
Hail to the USA's Two-Time Champion!!
Rocky's victory was a major win for America during the Cold War. Shortly after his bout with Ivan Drago, Rocky realizes while he is showering in the New Years Day of 1986 that he may have sustained some type of injury during the fight. Fighting Drago was arguably Rocky's worst fight. He was never able to fully recover from the match, both mentally and physically. When Rocky was street fighting his former pupil Tommy Gunn, he got flashbacks to his fight with Drago (and to Clubber Lang). When Ivan returned to the world of boxing with his son Viktor and challenged the Current Heavyweight Champion and son of Apollo Creed, Adonis, Rocky pleaded with Adonis to not take the fight, noting how Drago broke things in him that he was never able to fix.
Rocky victory as seen on in ESPN TV in 2018
After Ivan's loss to Rocky Balboa, Ivan was disgraced by the USSR, where he was shamed and kicked out of the country, tainting the Drago name forever. So it would be many years before he would even be able to attempt and correct his lowly regarded 1-1 (1 KO) record during his brief career in 1985. Five years later, in 1990 after the fall of Berlin Wall and the beginning of Germany's reunification, Ivan and Ludmilla had a son, Viktor Drago. However, due to his disgraced name, Ludmilla divorced Ivan and left him to raise Viktor on his own. However, this was only Russia, for elsewhere, the Drago name, and how the man killed Apollo Creed became the cautionary tale of the boxing, marking his name forever in the history of the sport. However, due to rules and political complications, Drago was unable to continue his professional career for more than five years after his loss to Balboa. Ivan eventually retired. Now forced to live again in Ukraine, where he lived a modest life, Ivan relentlessly trained Viktor to be an even more formidable boxer than he was.
Trivia[]
- Aside from Creed series, this is the second battle that doesn't have Stu Nahan to commentate. Instead, this battle has American Commentators Al Bandiero and Barry Tompkins for the International along with Italian, French, Russian and Japanese commentators.
- Even when the Christians celebrate Christmas at December 25th, the Orthodoxes of Russia only celebrate their own Christmas holiday at January 7th.
- This is the 2nd fight to feature the referee Marty Denkin after the first fight against Clubber Lang.
- Even when this is the last fiction fight that held 15 rounds, the real life boxing match cancels the 15 round battle and changes to the 10 or 12 round battle due to the aftermath of the death of the Korean boxer Kim Duk-koo in a fight against Ray Mancini in 1982 so that boxers can't get a lot of heavy injury.
- This is the 2nd time Rocky Balboa knocks out his opponent in the final round after The Superfight 2, the rematch against Apollo Creed.
Goof/Errors[]
- At the end of the Drago/Rocky Bout, Rocky gives a speech where he says, "In here, there were two guys... killing each other, But I guess that's better than 20 million". The Russian translator however translates this as "It's better than 20 Million Dollars" instead of "people". (Theatrical cut only, as the "dollar" mistake was cut out of the director's cut)
Gallery[]
