Does anybody know what Ali's reaction was to the Apollo Creed character? I always hear what boxing fans think, but I don't recall Ali saying anything one way or the other.
shareWell, there's this ------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsRuqVkwBK4
OPEN YOUR EYES! dailymotion.com/video/xbi2hi_1993-chandler-molestation-extortion_news
Carl Weathers apparently ran into Ali for real once and and apparently Ali went nuts and said
'Your Apollo Creed!' like a huge fan
Ali probably would say:
Yo Apollo Creed, you stole my act!
Its that man again!!
Because the original film was released in 1976 during the reign of Muhammad Ali, it is reasonable to assume that, with Ali being considered the quintessential boxer by having defeated some of the best of the time, Creed was based largely on him, although his public image is more in the vein of Sugar Ray Leonard or Joe Louis.
Like Ali, Apollo was an outside fighter, relying on his speed and power to get through fights. His jab-cross-hook combination were his mainstay, and, also like Ali, Creed's defense was heavily contingent upon his speed. Apollo used Ali's "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" philosophy, being able to bob and weave and frustrate his opponents. A notable difference was that though Creed had Ali's unorthodox hand positioning, he ducked, bobbed and weaved in the classic style, as opposed to Ali who preferred to move backwards, in contradiction to boxing's basic tenets, but with success. Perhaps the reason for this was that only Ali could be that unorthodox and look convincing; where most boxing instructors would tell you that you can't land a punch when you're retreating backwards, Ali did that too with regularity. Also unlike Ali, Apollo wasn't very political and had very little to say on social issues. In Rocky I a reporter asked him if it mattered to him that he was fighting a white man on the most celebrated day in our country's history; to which Apollo replied, "About as much as it matters to him that he's fighting a black man on the most celebrated day in our country's history."
Like Ali, Creed was susceptible to taking a lot of damage during fights because of the level at which he held his hands, a fact which ultimately proved to be his undoing. By the second film, his fancy wind up and punch with the other fist looked like it came from Sugar Ray Leonard.