The Rocky franchise spans over four decades, and in that time, it's seen a number of boxing trainers, but only one is definitively the best. Beginning back in 1976 with Rocky, the underdog sports drama that catapulted Sylvester Stallone to Hollywood stardom, the franchise has gone from strength to strength in the years since. The Rocky franchise's success gave way to a successful reboot/spin-off, Creed, which has itself started a franchise. Across their combined eight movies (and counting), the Rocky and Creed franchises have featured many fighters, but just as key, the franchises have also featured many trainers.
As the Rocky franchise continues to grow with the Creed movies, it seems likely that there will be more trainers and coaches still to appear. However, the two franchises also have a fondness for bringing back old characters to impart their wisdom to younger ones, meaning that even these may be familiar faces. The franchise has already seen Apollo Creed, Ivan Drago, and even Rocky himself make the leap from boxing to training their own fighters, as well as introducing new characters that serve as links to the past, such as Tony "Duke" Evers son, known as "Little Duke".
As the franchise concerns the pinnacle of heavyweight boxing, the Rocky movies' best fighter is often debated. However, behind each of the franchise's fighters is a trainer who oversees the athlete's training regimen, technical development, and strength and conditioning. The Rocky franchise may have introduced a number of boxing trainers, and each of them has their own individual merits and accomplishments, but only one trainer can truly be considered the best.
Mick Goldmill
Mick "Mickey" Goldmill (Burgess Meredith) is Rocky's trainer for Rocky, Rocky II, and the first half of Rocky III before his tragic and memorable on-screen death. Mickey's death serves as the push that Rocky needs to overcome his toughest challenge yet: Clubber Lang (Mr. T), a hard-hitting, trash-talking challenger that takes Rocky's title. However, in the first two films in the franchise, Mickey achieves a great deal as a trainer.
First, he coaches Rocky against Apollo for their first bout, which Rocky narrowly loses. Then, he manages to coach Rocky to the world championship - something which his fighter manages to keep for five years with a string of ten successful title defenses. Mick's approach to Rocky's training is decidedly old-school, forgoing the use of traditional workouts or gym equipment, and having his fighter literally chase chickens to improve his footwork and agility. However, besides Rocky, Mickey isn't shown to train any other successful fighters.
Tony "Duke" Evers
Played by Tony Burton, Tony "Duke" Evers was introduced in Rocky as the trainer of heavyweight champion boxer Apollo Creed. Within the franchise, Duke himself is a former fighter, who lost his last professional bout to a young up-and-coming Apollo Creed. From there, Duke opened his own boxing gym and took on the role of Creed's trainer, helping the young fighter hone his skills and win the heavyweight championship.
Throughout his various appearances in the franchise, Duke is most often the voice of reason. He's the only one to recognize Rocky as a potential threat to the somewhat arrogant Creed in Rocky, and he's there to help train Rocky for his rematch against Clubber Lang after Mick's death. What's more, he builds a close friendship with his fighters, as proved by his utter devastation at Apollo Creed's death. His style of training is much more comprehensive and traditional than Mickey's, and it helps Rocky become a much more well-rounded fighter.
Apollo Creed
Apollo Creed is one of the best fighters in the Rocky franchise, and though his talent in the ring is demonstrated in all of his appearances (and references long after the character's death), he also possessed some skill as a trainer. Creed's time training fighters is somewhat limited and is seemingly limited to training Rocky himself, helping his former rival after the death of Mickey in Rocky III. Creed is supported by his own trainer, and his approach to teaching Balboa is very much like that of Duke.
Rocky Balboa
Despite being the name of the franchise and perhaps the most iconic movie boxer of all time, Rocky Balboa isn't a particularly good boxer. His technical ability in the ring is far from comprehensive, with his success mostly coming by way of his heart (and his impressive ability to absorb punishment). However, the Creed movies see Rocky step out of the spotlight and into Adonis' corner, coaching his friend's son on his own boxing journey.
Rocky proves to be a reasonably talented coach, working with Adonis to perfect certain aspects of his technique. In this, Rocky is seemingly better as a coach than he is as a boxer, but much of Donnie's talent was already there before the Italian Stallion began training him. Rocky's approach to training remains similar to that of Mickey before him, although there's an added focus on technique rather than repeated strength and conditioning.
Ivan Drago
The villain of Rocky IV, Ivan Drago, is another fighter who turns his hand to coaching after his retirement. This is a central part of Creed II's story, which sees the former Soviet boxer disgraced and ostracized after his loss to Balboa, prompting him to train his son to be as fierce and strong as he once was himself. As a trainer, Drago appears to have some talent, as his son, Viktor, is a powerful and impressive fighter who earns himself a reputation for brutal power punching. Ivan trained his son alone, proving that he has genuine talent as a boxing coach, but he also makes the difficult decision to throw in the towel at the end of Creed II to protect his son from further punishment, proving that he's willing to do whatever he must to protect his boxer.
Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr.
His father was one of the Rocky franchise's memorable returning characters, and Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr. shares more than just a name with him. After his father's retirement, Little Duke took over his boxing gym, and is a supporting character in the Creed franchise who initially urges Donnie not to follow in Apollo's footsteps. After Rocky steps away from coaching in Creed II, Little Duke steps in to train Adonis for his first disastrous fight with Viktor Drago. While he isn't able to coach Adonis to victory, he is a well-known trainer in the Creed franchise, even coaching Danny Wheeler (Andre Ward), the heavyweight champion.
Pete Sporino
Pete Sporino is the father and coach of Leo Sporino in Creed, and he also operates Mighty Mick's Gym, where he allows Adonis to train. After telling Adonis that the gym is "mostly self-training", he sets up a fight between Donnie and Leo (Creed's single-take fight), which Donnie wins. While Sporino's son is a competent fighter, as a coach he's seen to be somewhat reckless, proposing a fight with an unknown boxer that ultimately backfires.
Who Is The Best Boxing Trainer In Rocky Movies
Identifying the best coach in the Rocky movies ultimately comes down to the specific criteria they're judged on. With regards to their technique and style of coaching, Rocky and Apollo are both best represented, but when considering the treatment of their boxers alongside this, there's an argument for Ivan Drago being a better coach. Overall, however, the best boxing trainer is either Tony "Duke" Evers or his son, Tony "Little Duke" Evers Jr. - as they're both shown to have coached champions with impressive careers and reputations, and to have made a successful career of their coaching.
Why Adonis Creed's Future Needs To Move Past Rocky
It's rumored that Creed 3 will kill off Rocky, but even if this doesn't happen, Stallone has said that he likely won't return as the Italian Stallion in future installments. However, it's important that the Creed franchise moves on from Rocky, as he's simply not the trainer that Adonis needs. Rocky has already passed on the greatest lessons he can - life lessons, not boxing ones - and it's vital that Adonis moves past the relics of the past to become his own man. This is important for the wider franchise, too, as Creed needs to move beyond the old-school approach to training that the Rocky franchise glorifies, and instead embrace a more realistic picture of what training looks like for a professional boxer.
