To say that the character of Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers) is an analog Ali can appear lazy on paper. After all, the two men are boxers, the two have a noisy and boastful personality, the two are black, etc. However, despite all the unique qualities that the Weathers have brought to the role, there is undeniably a DNA from Ali to Apollo. This is quite clear so that Ali himself noticed it, from where the time in the Oscars.
However, Ali did not simply observe with casualness a link between him and Creed. He also articulated it, most succinctly during an interview with the film critic Roger Ebert in 1979, where the couple watched “Rocky II” together. In the play, Ebert speaks to Ali general similarities between the events and the characters of the film and the world of boxing, aspects that Ali corroborates or denies with pleasure. (During a scene of rocky weight, Ali says that it is “the worst thing that a boxer can do … but it looks good in the film.”)
However, when Ebert pressed Ali to find out if he thinks that the character of Balboa is inspired by him, Ali sets records directly on which character really looks like him:
“No question. Rocky acts nothing like it.
In addition, Ali claims that Weathers himself told him that “he had dance and the blow, all the style of Apollo Creed” to watch images of the boxer. For the most part, Ali seemed to be satisfied with Apollo and “Rocky” in general, calling “Rocky II” a film that “has all the ingredients … The excitement has never finished”. However, there is one aspect of “Rocky” films (those that Ali was able to see, that is to say) whose champion had reflections that give to think and have clearly declared to Ebert when he was invited:
“For the black man to come out, superior would be against American teachings. I was so great in boxing that they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counter my image in the ring. America must have her white images, no matter where she leads them. Jesus, Wonder Woman, Tarzan and Rocky.”
Ali died in June 2016, only seven months after the release of “Creed” by Ryan Coogler, who followed the exploits of Apollo’s son, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), and made Rocky a support character. It is not clear if Ali was able to project the film before his death, but we hope that if this is the case, Ali appreciated it just as much – if not a little more than – he made the first two films “Rocky”.
