Rocky II (1979)

The Italian Stallion is back in Rocky II (1979)! Despite Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) telling Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) "ain't gonna be no rematch" and Rocky replying "Don't want one!" after their first fight, the second flick in the series does indeed revolve around a rematch. After Rocky fought valiantly to a bloody decision loss against world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed at the end of the first film, the two heavyweights are taken to the hospital due to the severity of their injuries. While healing his wounds and nursing a bruised ego, Apollo challenges Rocky to a rematch to prove the first fight was a fluke. Facing possible blindness and other health issues, Rocky announces his retirement from boxing, moving on to use his newfound fame to earn money endorsing products, which will afford him the opportunity to marry Adrian (Talia Shire) and become a father. Spurred on by receiving a ton of hate mail, Apollo continues to goad Rocky into the rematch. As the money starts to dwindle and Philly pushes for him to take another shot at the title, Rocky, against the wishes of his loved ones, gets back in the ring to start training for his fight against Apollo. When the two heavyweights finally exchange punches, the incredibly rare double knockdown will see our two combatants fighting to stand up. First one on his feet becomes Heavyweight Champion of the World! Rocky wasn't quite as cut up as he would be in the later Rocky flicks, but he still looks pretty dang good doing shirtless situps, pumping iron, and letting his trainer slap his abs! Yo Adrian, we'd do it! Carl is another sweaty beefcake that will help you knock one out! He's even more muscular than Sly and knows it judging by him looking at himself in the mirror. He'll even crush a newspaper photo of Rocky taped to the mirror, just like Balboa will do to Ivan Drago a few years later in Rocky IV (1985). We're pretty sweet on those purveyors of the sweet science! Mr. Man's always up for another round with Sly and Carl after watching Rocky II!