It takes only a few minutes for the first big bout in 1985’s Rocky IV to go horribly wrong. What began with pomp and pagentry, as former heavyweight champion Apollo Creed descended from the rafters while James Brown and his band performed “Living in America,” ended in bloodshed. Apollo’s Russian challenger Ivan Drago makes short work of the Count of Monte Fisto, battering him bloody while his best friend Rocky Balboa stands outside the ring, gripping his buddy’s towel. “Throw the towel!” pleads Apollo’s trainer; “Throw the damn towel!”

Rocky doesn’t, choosing instead to honor Apollo’s wishes, even if it costs him his life. But behind the scenes of Rocky IV , Sylvester Stallone almost considered it. “I told Carl, ‘I could have given you a bad back or something, you know what I mean

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