Every Fight In The Creed Franchise, Ranked

This post contains spoilers for "Creed III"

The underdog story is a classic cinematic trope for a reason. We follow our heroes from humble beginnings with few believing in them, but through grit and determination, they become self-made champions. It's the American dream personified on the big screen. Few franchises have offered consistent stand-up-and-cheer moments more than "Rocky." The Italian Stallion hadn't seen the ring since 2006's "Rocky Balboa." Then, director Ryan Coogler, star Michael B. Jordan, and Stallone found a way to breathe new life into the franchise. In a world of spinoffs, reboots, and retreads, it's rare to get one that works as well as the first "Creed." The film comes out swinging with the franchise's most realistic fights, a dynamic relationship between Adonis and Rocky, and several moments that make grown men ugly cry (or at least this grown man).

Each movie has defined the central conflict for Apollo with a perfect mix of formula, acting, direction, and thrilling boxing matches. "Creed II" stepped up the emotional stakes by pitting Adonis against the son of the man who killed his father. While "Creed III" brings an even more personal match to the forefront with Jonathan Majors as Damian Dame Anderson, a ghost from Adonis' troubled past. The "Creed" franchise has showcased some of the most incredible boxing fights ever put to film, and with Adonis stepping into the ring for a third round, we wanted to pit these matches toe-to-toe and see who comes out on top.

"Creed III" features two epic main event matches, one minor bout, and a smattering of smaller fights. The first comes in a flashback to Los Angeles in 2002 when Adonis and Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) were kids. Damian is the current champion in the amateur National Golden Gloves, and Adonis sneaks out to watch him fight in an underground match. This prologue quickly establishes their close brotherly bond. At the same time, the fight shows how Damian was once a true talent, as he delivers a massive knockout, and we get a glimpse of what could have been before that night changes their lives forever.

There's a brief sparring match between Damian and Delphi Boxing Academy's Felix Chavez (Jose Benavidez). Damian quickly shows his aggressive streak and resorts to a cheap shot under Felix's arm, leading both to nearly throw off the gloves and fight for real. We get a sliver of the anger bubbling underneath the surface of Damian, and when they have a rematch on the world stage, we know it won't end well for Felix.

It wouldn't be a "Creed" movie without a montage. While the "Creed II" montage remains the reigning champ, the third film offers enough to get the audience's blood pumping. Damian's training consists of him straight KO-ing every opponent he spars with. While Adonis calls up his old nemesis, turned "frenemy," Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), to help get him back on the horse. At first, Drago annihilates Adonis, but by the end of the montage, he gets his mojo back and takes down Drago Jr. It's a fun way to bring back a fan-favorite antagonist and show they've moved past their parents' baggage.

Viktor Drago's introduction is cold, emotionless, and violent. His father, Ivan (Dolph Lundgren), wakes him up. They eat breakfast, walk out of their rundown apartment complex, and prepare for his fight without a word. Once in the ring, Viktor towers over the other fighter, who's about to learn very quickly he didn't stand a chance. The first shot of the fight is from below, looking between the two as Viktor pummels away. His opponent manages to connect a cheap head butt, which only angers Viktor, and he knocks him out cold.

To say this is a depressing opening would be an understatement. We get a stark contrast from the last time we saw Ivan Drago, a Terminator-like boxing machine throwing out one-liners like "If he dies, he dies," while all of Soviet Russia cheered him on. Now, he and his son are holed up in a dingy apartment in Ukraine, as far from the spotlight and celebrity as possible. Ivan and Viktor's seeming lack of love or even emotion for each other is especially chilling. This prologue perfectly sets up the film's antagonist without a single line of dialogue.

In Adonis' first fight, we follow a single take, starting in the basement, where he gears himself up. He then walks down the hall and up a flight of stairs, in and out of the shadows and into the ring. The shot continues through the first few beats of the fight, making the audience feel like they are in Adonis' corner, ringside, cheering him on. The camera cuts away to the crowd, which gives the audience the anticipation that they are in for a multi-round grudge match opener, only to whip back to the ring, and Adonis delivers the match-ending right hook.

We are going to be closer to the boxing action than ever before. This opening immediately establishes the character's (and Jordan's) skill and Coogler's filmmaking style. The fight is a blink-and-it's-over match, and when Adonis starts unwrapping his gloves as his opponent struggles to get up, shows his ego. The jump cut from this to him sitting with a shirt and tie at a desk job sets up Adonis living in two different worlds. It's the shortest match Adonis takes part in, so that's why it's not higher on the list, but narratively, it does the trick.

Adonis asks Tony "Little Duke" Evers (whose father trained Apollo and Rocky) to coach him. He boasts about his 15 knockouts, with no losses in Mexico, but Tony refuses, calling them barroom brawls. Not willing to take no for an answer and feeling cocky, Adonis steps into the ring and challenges the entire gym, offering up his Mustang to anyone who can "land one clean headshot." A fighter emerges, and Adonis refuses headgear (another sign of arrogance). Within seconds he drops the first fighter. He's flying high until Danny "The Stuntman" Wheeler steps up.

The screen flashes Danny's stats — 18 wins by knockout, #2 Pound for Pound boxer in the world. The sparring match begins, and Adonis gets in a few good shots and evades several of Wheeler's jabs until one connects. It's a disorienting blow that leaves him open for a body shot and another punch to the head. Danny goes on the offensive and pummels Adonis against the ropes as he tries to block as many hits as possible, but the final blow sends Adonis to the mat with only enough energy to spit out his mouthguard. This is another quick fight, but a humbling moment that knocks Adonis back down to Earth after feeling invincible. It's also the impetus for him to seek out Rocky to train him, and the rest is cinema history.

The first fight of "Creed III" is a rematch with Adonis taking on the one challenger ever to beat him, "Pretty" Ricky Conlan. Adonis takes a beating in the first round, but it's all strategic. He's mapping out Ricky's weaknesses and blind spots. In Round 2, Adonis gets in several bruise-inducing body shots, leaving Ricky open for a knockout. This rematch continues in the tradition of bringing back the antagonist from the first film, a-la Rocky and Apollo in "Rocky II." It's a tried and true, some may say cliché, storytelling device, but it works well here. Creed gets to go out on top and retire a champ. 

Director and star Michael B. Jordan shows us out the gates that this third entry is not just a rehash. Its goal is to move the franchise out of Rocky's shadow and be fully a Creed film. One of the ways he makes this point abundantly clear is his filmmaking style for the fights. They are unlike anything we've seen before in the Rockyverse. In the first two, the camera felt like we were in the ring, but with "Creed III," we are placed in the mind of the fighters. Tight shots of Adonis' eyes go to close-ups of Ricky's body, where he sees an opening. The hits are slowed to an impossible speed as the muscles and skin reverberate. Jordan has commented at length on how anime influenced this style choice. It brings a fresh and exciting new visual aesthetic to the ninth entry in a decades-long saga.

After Viktor's ominous intro, we see Adonis get a rematch against the still-current owner of his beloved Mustang, Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler. Wheeler hits Adonis with what would've been a knockout three years ago, but his star is fading while Adonis' is rising. Adonis gets in two uppercuts and then a hit to the jaw that dazes Wheeler, and he's unable to recover. This fight isn't as drawn out as the series' more "main event" matches, but it still packs a punch.

This entire match serves as a way to very quickly show the audience how far Adonis has come since his split decision loss at the end of "Creed." It juxtaposes the first fight, where Wheeler dropped Adonis in seconds, to now, where Adonis starts the fight as an equal as they trade blows and blocks back and forth. By the end, Adonis shows that he has surpassed Wheeler and wins Heavyweight Champion of the World. An emotional moment for him, as it's the same title held by both Rocky and Apollo. The commentator remarks, "This is the first step to building a legacy of his own, and I can hardly wait to see what's next for Adonis Creed." He's on top of the world, on the perfect pedestal for Viktor Drago to knock him down.

After Viktor Drago is attacked and injured, Adonis vouches for Damian to fight Felix in Drago's place. It does not go how anyone (aside from Damian) hoped. Felix is the reigning undefeated champ, often referring to Damian as "Grandpa," so he comes into the fight thinking this will be a cakewalk. He enters the arena with one of the best entrances yet, with a Dia De Los Muertos vibe, multi-colored smoke canisters, and an animal headdress. Damian follows with his two trainers and virtually no fanfare. Once the fight begins, it is abundantly clear that Damian came to win by any means necessary. He sneaks in cheap shots, eventually delivering a blow to the face reminiscent of Apollo vs. Drago.

The filmmaking techniques established in the first fight between Conlan and Adonis are kicked up a notch here, with Jordan focusing the camera on the emotion and strategy of Damian. Jonathon Majors is a beast. Damian attacks in the ring with unrelenting ferocity. In between rounds, he ignores his trainer and instead clocks the areas he's wounded on Felix and plots how to exploit them. There's one extreme close-up shot in particular, where Damian misses a punch, but instead elbows Felix in the cheek, splitting it open. When Felix is lying on the ground bleeding, and Adonis rushes the ring, there's a genuine fear it may be lights out for the current champ.

Pitting the son of Ivan Drago against the son of Apollo Creed was the perfect choice for the sequel. It also shows surprising empathy for the Dragos. They aren't just "Communist Killing Machines" like Ivan's two-dimensional portrayal in "Rocky IV." We find a bitter Ivan after losing his wife, country, fame, and respect. He's raised his son Viktor with only one purpose: to fight. When a showboating promoter sets the challenge, Adonis jumps at the chance. Rocky, however, refuses to train Adonis for this fight. He can't let another Creed die on his watch. Adonis trains with Little Duke instead, and the stakes for their first match are huge, with Adonis fighting to avenge his father's death, while Viktor wants to reclaim his father's glory. 

Viktor walks into the arena with no fanfare at all, then Creed comes in like a rock star, not unlike Apollo's over-the-top entrance in "Rocky IV." Adonis attacks repeatedly, not making a dent. Drago fires back, and we get Adonis' POV shot that makes us feel like we're also being pummeled. They make it to Round 3 when Viktor knocks Adonis down with a thunderous rib shot. Before he can get back up, Viktor gives him a savage uppercut. Viktor loses the fight by disqualification, leaving Adonis' body and spirit broken on the mat. If the fight with Wheeler sparked Adonis' career, Viktor is the firehose that douses any fire he had. He's in for a long road to recovery.

The main event in "Creed" begins with another single-take following Adonis as he enters to boos from the Liverpool crowd. Conlan's entrance starts in darkness, with a firebreather lighting his path. His shadow ominously approaches. Once the fight begins, Conlan realizes Adonis won't be the easy win he expected. As the fight progresses, blood spatters on the ref's shirt, the bell, and the ring floor. They make it to Round 11, where Conlan knocks Adonis to the ground, during which Adonis flashes to everything he's fighting for: legacy, love, respect, family, and Rocky. He gasps back to life. The beginning of "Gonna Fly Now" kicks in, and Round 12 begins. Adonis drops Conlan to the canvas, but he manages to get back up. He narrowly loses by a split decision but gains the respect of Conlan and the crowd. 

Conlan mainly serves as a looming offscreen threat until the end, which lets the film focus on the relationship between Adonis and Rocky. This fight expertly combines long takes, brutal close-ups, and slow-motion moments emphasizing especially powerful hits. It's a near-perfect example of the underdog facing impossible odds, but he keeps going. The choice to have Adonis lose mirrors Rocky's loss to Apollo in the original film, and grounds it in reality. This final fight symbolizes Adonis accepting that he can be his own man while still being his father's son, as he dawns the shorts Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) sent him, with both Creed and Johnson on them.

In the first "Creed," upon arriving in Philidelphia, Adonis trains at Mighty Mick's Gym, founded by Rocky's original trainer Mickey Goldmill. Once Rocky finally comes around to the idea of training Adonis, the interest of the gym's current owner, Pete Sporino, is piqued. Pete proposes a fight between his son Leo "The Spider" Sporino and Adonis. They accept, Adonis moves in with Rocky, and it's time to cue the epic training montage. The fight is a single-take shot for over four minutes as the camera bobs and weaves with the fighters, never missing an impact. We feel like we're in the ring with them.

The Sporino fight is a technical masterclass. Often in movies, when there's a single-take fight scene, several punches can look weak or staged, but here it feels like a real-life boxing match, with each punch hitting its mark. It's an incredible example of utilizing camera angles and stunt choreography, and it feels like we're watching the filmmakers pull off a close-up magic trick. We think the camera will cut away when the round ends, giving these actors (and the steady-cam operator a break). Still, it keeps rolling as we hop into Creed's corner, and a sneaky make-up artist finds an off-camera moment to add practical blood above Adonis' eye. We're back in the ring for Round 2, close enough to see the sweat fly with each hit. The camera pans over to Rocky, and he sees an opening. Adonis takes it, and with two devastating blows, he knocks Sporino to the ground. It's an exhausting, exhilarating fight and one of the most realistic in the franchise. 

The final fight of "Creed III" between Adonis and Damian is unlike any boxing match audiences have seen. There's a body shot from Damian where thousands of beads of sweat leap off Adonis' back. Where these movies usually kick into a montage glossing over the middle rounds, "Creed III" takes its wildest creative swing yet. The audience, music, lights ... everything fades away, becoming a more expressionistic fight between Adonis and Damian. Literal prison bars appear to show the demons Damian is fighting. They batter away until they simultaneously deliver a massive hit to the face, and we snap back to reality. Adonis eventually sees an opening and, with two blows, sends Damian to the mat.

This is the first film in the franchise to fully empathize with its "villain" in an extremely well-earned arc. We got glimpses of this in "Creed II," but here we feel Damian's pain from what he's lost. At one point, Damian stares at Adonis with angry tears as we see both men visualize the child version of themselves. It's heartbreaking. When everything fades, you can feel the regret, guilt, anger, resentment, and love these two once had for each other being poured out with each punch. This fight ranks so high because it breaks all formulas. Typically, the underdog starts strong and then gets beaten to a pulp and has to summon the willpower to finally pull a narrow win in the twelfth round. Here, instead, we watch two evenly matched estranged friends battle out their past. It's a beautiful, brutal, cathartic experience.

Before the epic beatdown, we are treated to the best training montage this side of "Rocky IV." Then, the story hops across the globe to Moscow, with Viktor receiving a hero's welcome. Creed's intro is even more epic, as Bianca sings one of her original songs. They are united and support each other in what they love. At first, Creed dodges Drago with lightning speed. Drago gets the upper hand and nearly allows his anger to disqualify him again. Eventually, Creed makes Viktor bleed, a first for the undefeated behemoth. Upon Ivan's direction, Viktor delivers several blows to Creed's newly heeled ribs, and he collapses. All the sound drops out, but Adonis pulls himself back up and knocks Viktor down. Both fighters square off as "Gonna Fly Now" kicks in again (perfectly timed, as usual). Creed continues to pummel Viktor until Ivan throws in the towel and stops the fight.

If the stakes in the first match between Adonis and Viktor were high, their rematch is astronomical. Everything about this fight is fantastic — it's exciting, emotional, and satisfying in how it wraps up the bitter rivalry that began 33 years prior in "Rocky IV." When Viktor starts to lose and his mother leaves, it's another moment that warrants sympathy for the film's heel. Ivan choosing to throw in the towel is a huge moment for his character. He's finally decided there's something more important than winning ... his son. Adonis avenged his father's death with this victory and cemented his legacy. It's poetry with punches and easily the best fight of the three films.