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The Italian Stallion vs The Southside Slugger pt. II, was a rematch between the New Heavyweight Champion Clubber Lang and the Ex-Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa that took place on the summer night of June 7, 1982 in Madison Square Garden, New York City. Unlike the last fight in Philadelphia, the fight lasted 3 out of 15 rounds and saw Balboa defeat Lang and reclaim the belt. Notably, his former boxing/rival opponent Apollo Creed and his trainer Tony "Duke" Evers, once being antagonists in the first two movies of the 1970s, were by his side to train him after Mickey Goldmill passed away a few months before the fight. The best popular rematch fight was one of the first times in a while in which a former champion reclaimed the belt.

Background[]

After Lang defeated Balboa and Mickey died, Rocky went into a deep depression. One night, he rides to his statue and in a fit of anger throws his motorcycle helmet at it. He then stops at Mickey's now-shuttered gym where he is confronted by Apollo Creed, who tells him that Rocky has lost his edge and needs to get it back. To do this, Apollo offers to train Rocky for a rematch with Lang. Rocky agrees and he, with Adrian and Paulie, follows Apollo to Los Angeles. Apollo's plan is to take Rocky back to the basics, from putting him and his family up in an old, unkempt hotel in Creed's old neighborhood, as well as returning to his old gym, where he hooks Rocky up with Duke, Apollo's former trainer. Rocky calls out Lang and asks for a rematch, Lang would respond during an interview on TV by saying "I reject the challenge because Balboa is no challenge, but I'd be more than happy to beat up on him some more". The interviewer proceeds to ask what Lang thought of Balboa being trained by Apollo Creed which he replies by saying "Apollo who? You talking bout that old fool Apollo Creed, shucks, one has-been is enough, all Apollo been doing is running off at the mouth lately and when I see him I’m gonna close it for him." When asked when the fight will take place, Lang says "the sooner the better" he goes on to say that he can’t be beaten and that he will train even harder this time and make sure there is no quick knockdown "I’m gonna torture him, I’m gonna crucify him real bad". Despite Apollo's best efforts at getting Rocky back into fighting shape, Rocky is still distraught and disillusioned. However, Adrian finally decides to talk to Rocky who, in his frustration, admits to being afraid and feeling responsible for Mickey's death. Through heated compassionate criticism Adrian is finally able to talk him out of his funk and convince him to get back on track, and with Apollo and Duke's expertise, Rocky develops into a completely different fighter by trading his power game for a quick hitting counter-attacking style.

The Fight[]

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Balboa dodges Lang's blow

The rematch is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with Creed serving as Rocky's new manager for Mickey's legacy and Tony and Paulie being the cornermen. This time, Apollo gave Rocky a box that has a new boxer shorts of red, white and blue after he wore them in their first superfight of the new year's day in 1976. At the start of the fight, Rocky sprints from his corner, fighting with a level of skill and spirit that no one expected. As a result, Rocky dominates the first round. After the bell, Lang is in a fit of rage and has to be restrained by his trainers. In the second round, Rocky starts as he did in the first. However, Lang gains the upper hand; from here he dominates Rocky, knocking him down twice. Getting up from the second knockdown, Rocky adopts a strategy that bewilders Apollo (and Lang) by intentionally taking a beating from Lang while taunting him for being unable to knock him out. The round ends with a verbal altercation between Lang and Rocky.

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Rocky reclaims the title and celebrates with his family and friends

In the third round, Lang (who is used to winning fights swiftly with knockouts in the early rounds) becomes increasingly angry and quickly exhausts his energy trying to finish Rocky off with repeated knockout blows, most of which miss the newly-agile Rocky. Rocky taunts the champion in order to psych him out, and the aggressive Lang is infuriated. He attacks even harder, walking into Rocky's trap. The tide turns, and Rocky overpowers the winded and out boxed Lang, knocking him out and re-gaining the title of the heavyweight championship of the world. Now, Mickey would have been proud of Rocky for avenging his death.

Aftermath[]

After the fight, Rocky fulfils Apollo's vague "big favor": a private rematch with him at Mick's old gym from Philadelphia. The film concludes with the fighters throwing their first punch simultaneously, but this time, after the two massive bouts between them previously, this fight is purely for pride and they fight in the spirit of friendly competition rather than as fierce rivals.

Clubber Lang, since his defeat at Rocky's hand in 1983, had won another six fights, 3 by KO, and 3 by decision, still remaining the number one contender in the heavyweight division, claimed the now vacant title after defeating a "weak" opponent by a unanimous decision. In 1986, Clubber Lang would have been the opponent to fight Union Cane for the title after Rocky retired that same year after suffering brain damage from his match with Drago. Cane won the championship by KO, effectively leaving Lang with another loss on his record.

Trivia[]

  • While Stu Nahan said a side note that Rocky looks like a middleweight of a 191 pounds, he is actually a cruiserweight.
  • Rocky Balboa taunted Lang and mentioned of his unnamed deceased mother that she hits harder than that.
  • The opening of the fight entrance is The marines' hymn ("In The Hall of Montezuma").
  • The French dub of this fight in the 3rd round has Bill Baldwin still commentating while Rocky is doing ultimate combos to weakened Lang.

Goofs/Errors[]

  • Some scenes of the opening pre-fight has the crowd footages of The Superfight 2 in Philadelphia Spectrum from Rocky II instead of the Madison Square Garden from the current movie.

Gallery[]

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