Rocky's line "they must be friends", when Joe Frazier and Apollo Creed are bantering together in the ring, is a reference to the real-life feud between Frazier and Muhammad Ali, whom the character of Creed is based on. Ali and Frazier had been friends until their first fight, when Ali's continued insulting of Frazier led to the two fighters falling out.
Rocky
When world heavyweight boxing champion, Apollo Creed wants to give an unknown fighter a shot at the title as a publicity stunt, his handlers choose palooka Rocky Balboa, an uneducated collector for a Philadelphia loan shark. Rocky teams up with trainer Mickey Goldmill to make the most of this once in a lifetime break.
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