Alot of it had to do with Apollo's thoughts on Clubber himself. Clubber is very blunt, vocal. He is an ultimate Alpha type. Apollo is actually very much the same way, he's brash, vocal but he also has his way with flair and entertainment as you see with the 1st Rocky fight coming in dressed as George Washington. When Apollo went to shake Clubber's hand and Clubber basically slapped it away then insulting him, Apollo got the real "read" on Clubber in his opinion.
In the boxing world, Clubber states that he thinks the sport is against someone like him, denying him the opportunity to get a title shot. Apollo probably could accept that, but when he was verbally insulted and taunted by Clubber, Apollo see that Clubber is actually only in this for himself. He doesn't see him as a representative of the sport that should be lauded and most importantly, one who would respect the importance and the lineage that being the Heavyweight Champion of the World brings with it.
You can say what you want about Apollo but he respected the sport, he did respect his opponents like Rocky (the 2nd one was more personal, he wanted revenge because he felt he let it get away and underestimated him the 1st time) and he respected the title. He sees that Rocky's loss was due to losing the hunger, letting the fame get to him and the death of Mickey affecting him. He wanted to help him because he wanted the lineage of the Heavyweight Champion to go through Rocky, the only one who ever beat him, respected the sport and the lineage of being Heavyweight Champion as opposed to Clubber who he believes doesn't respect any of that. This type of theme carries into Rocky 4, when Apollo tells Rocky "Maybe you don't understand now, but you will when it's over". All about the bigger picture theme of each film.
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MarkAntney
9 years ago
The actual summary/write up is 10000% great but I disagree a little on the Apollo-Clubber having a significant component to Apollo's respect for Rocky.
IOWs, I think their "Friendship-Respect" existed independent of Lang.
I do agree on the selfishness,...not respecting the sport,..irking the Bejesus out of Apollo of Clubber, because like you said (like Ali) Apollo was basically brash, bold,...in selling the fights/sport, Clubber was just a dude in dire need of HUG from his mother and his Father:):):).
I love Rocky III and II, to me those are a cutabove the others and all are good-great, YES Even Rocky V:):)
I've told a bunch of folks that like the franchise but H8 V to watch it again and concentrate on (Don King Like) Promoter Duke. That dude should won an award for that role:):):). Most tell me they like the movie more but not fully converted.
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