Moment pages are spoilers off. You have been warned.
- The moment Adrian tells Rocky to win is when we're treated with not one, but TWO training montages! One with Going the Distance, and another with the Gonna Fly Now themes playing. In the latter, practically all the kids in Philadelphia following Rocky on his run to the steps of the art museum.
- Duke, Apollo's trainer, has quite the badass take on Rocky and why Creed shouldn't fight him anymore.Duke: I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you. Now, we don't need that kinda man like that in our lives.
- Mickey's speech to get Rocky hyped up for training against Apollo just might be his best in a series full of hype speeches. He manages to, in short order, insult Rocky's looks, call him out for being whiny, and fill him with confidence. All at once!Mickey: Now, to pull this miracle off, you gotta change everything. You gotta learn to be a right-handed fighter! Now, this'll confuse Apollo, and it'll protect that bad eye.Rocky: No, I can't learn how to fight right-handed no more-Mickey: What's CAN'T? There ain't no can'ts! There's no can'ts! Now, he will beat you uglier than ya are now. Now listen: you'll start fightin' right-handed, and then you'll change suddenly! It'll make history. But foist, we gotta get speed. Demon speed. Speed's what we need. We need...greasy FAST SPEED!!
- Rocky winning the championship the first time. He was a bum from the streets who went the distance with the champ but lost. The fight left him with a crippling injury and his resulting refusals to a rematch left him branded a coward. In order to protect his bad eye he had to unlearn everything he knew and start over in an orthodox stance (something Muhammad Ali said is borderline impossible unless you're a young fighter, and even then it takes years). Meanwhile, the champ (who had poorly trained and underestimated Rocky the first time) pushed himself to defend his title and reputation the best he could. Despite these disadvantages and getting his face smashed to a pulp Rocky was able to knock out the champ and become the heavyweight champion of the world.Rocky: Yo Adrian! I DID IT!!
- Also for Apollo: This time he trained properly, and he literally dominated most of the fight. Lesser boxers would have been crushed in the first round, assuming they survived...
