Carl Weathers has passed away at the age of 76. Weathers was a multidimensional talent, a football player, actor, director, and an Emmy nominee. But the role that made him famous was playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky franchise.
Creed (Weathers) faced off against Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), and the relationship evolved into a story of how enemies can become friends.
That evolution is evident in Rocky III’s iconic training montage. Balboa’s ego gets slightly inflated after he gains ten championships following the original iconic match with Creed. But after a devasting loss to boxer “Clubber” Lang (played by Mr. T), Balboa turns to his former rival for help. From there, we see one of the most iconic training montages in sports movie history.
Creed stopped at nothing to make sure his friend won that match. He had Balboa swimming, running laps on the beach, and training daily. Progress was slow, but Balboa won the bout.
That training montage showed us how strong a bond between friends can be in sports and, for that matter, in real life.
RIP, Carl Weathers. Thank you for giving us a great enemies-to-friends story.
