Nightmare Fuel / Rocky II

• What Duke said to Apollo regarding their first fight with Balboa, you can tell how scared he is for Apollo. Take away the fact that Rocky is a nice guy, he's still a fighter and a Determinator which makes it even scarier.
  Duke: He's all wrong for us, baby. I saw you beat that man like I never saw no man get beat before, and the man kept coming after you. Now we don't need no man like that in our lives.
  • The funny thing about this quote is that it can also be used as high praise for Rocky when you look at it from another POV.
  • Duke is proven right about Rocky being dangerous and not someone Apollo should fight. While Apollo's skill and talent are amazing, his pride won't be satisfied until he really beat Rocky (win by KO). Instead of using skill to take points and take it to a decision, he does everything he can to get close and pound on Rocky to make him fall. Unfortunately, for all of Apollo's skill, even he can't avoid all of Rocky's punches at close range and by the end of the fight Apollo's face is badly swollen and it's implied from Duke's panicked cries that Rocky is destroying Apollo's mid section and Apollo most likely had severely broken ribs and possibly internal bleeding. Larry Holmes once said that Muhamed Ali would sometimes piss blood after taking enough damage to his body and considering Apollo is based on Ali, well....
  • The final round of the fight from Duke's perspective. Right before Apollo goes out, Duke is adamant that his champ STAY AWAY from Rocky. Remember, up until that point in the fight, Apollo might have taken hellacious damage but he was winning the fight. He could just dance away from Rocky, ride out the final round, and then win another decision. But Apollo keeps saying "He's going down. He's going down" as if he thinks the best plan is to engage Rocky head on, and seek that blistering knockout to silence the doubters. Duke is practically screaming at Apollo not to engage him, and when the round begins Apollo gets right in Rocky's face. And sure, Apollo is getting in some good shots, but Rocky is also landing some brutal body shots to Apollo. We cut back to Duke, who is visibly in tears howling "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" He has trained Apollo's body to peak physical performance, but he simply couldn't fix his fighter's (and friend's) fatal flaw: his pride. And it costs him the title.