In the years following the film's release, Sylvester Stallone acknowledged that the injury that forces Rocky to retire, referenced in the film as a potentially lethal form of 'brain damage', was inaccurate. Stallone stated that having discussed the story with many boxing medical professionals, the injury Rocky suffered was a milder form of brain damage, similar to that of a long-term concussion that many boxers suffer from, and by modern-day standards are still able to gain licenses to box. It would not have prevented Rocky from gaining a license to box, nor would it have killed him.