What if the infamous fight from Rocky IV really happened? What if Sylvester Stallone’s boxing champ really brawled against Dolph Lundgren’s ‘roid-raging Russian Ivan Drago from the Soviet Union? What if Rocky really squashed a conflict between two of the world’s superpowers? CollegeHumor’s 30 for 30 parody shows us this iconic movie moment with fresh eyes.

The ESPN docu-series is known for chronicling the most important moments and people in sports history, and the fight from Rocky IV was so culturally significant that it might as well have been a sports moment. The comedy site took this to the next level in spoofing 30 for 30 and bringing in real sports media personalities and experts, like ESPN’s Max Kellerman and historian Philip Wismer, to tell this riveting tale.


Watch the video below to learn the truth behind the turning point in the Cold War.

Sprinkled throughout the video is footage from the fourth Rocky movie, which saw Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), fatally struck down in the ring by Ivan. Rocky, then, steps up to avenge his fallen comrade. Even after all these years we still don’t know why a Russian crowd would switch to cheering for an American, and the video approaches the topic as one of those infamously unsolved mysteries. The same goes for whether or not Apollo’s dance with James Brown prior to the fight contributed to his death. Though, ESPN’s Robert Flores remarks that Apollo was “in dance shape, not boxing shape,” while Hank Pierce of The Philadelphia Inquirer said Rocky learned from his mistake and didn’t do a “20-minute dance number” prior to his match.

The legacy of Rocky will continue on when Creed, starring Michael B. Jordan as Apollo’s son Adonis, hits theaters on November 25th. Regardless of how good this film looks, there will still never be anything like this legendary match of Rocky IV.


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