— I've been comin' here for six years, and six years you been stickin' it to me. I wanna know how come.
— You don't wanna know.
— Yeah, I wanna know how come.
— You wanna know?
— I wanna know!
— Okay, I'm gonna tell ya! 'Cause you had the talent to become a good fighter, and instead of that, you became a leg-breaker to some cheap, second-rate loan shark.
— It's a livin'.
— It's a waste of life!
— Would you take a look at that guy? I mean, where are the real fighters gonna come from? The pros. All we got today are jig clowns.
— Clowns?
— That's right. Clowns.
<...>
— You callin' Apollo Creed a clown?
— Well, what else? Look at him.
<...>
— Hey, are you crazy? This man is champion of the world. He took his best shot and became champ. Huh? What shot did you ever take?
— I can't do it.
— What?
— I can't beat him.
— Apollo?
— Yeah. I've been out there walkin' around, thinkin'. I mean, who am I kiddin'? I ain't even in the guy's league.
— What are we gonna do?
— I don't know.
— You worked so hard.
— It don't matter, 'cause I was nobody before.
— Don't say that.
— Oh, come on, Adrian. It's true. I was nobody. But it don't matter either, you know? So, I was thinkin'... It really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed. And if I can go that distance see, if that bell rings and I'm still standin'... I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, you see... that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.
— I don't need it no more, I don't want it no more.
— Look man, when you beat me, I heard all over and I didn't want to know nothing or nobody, not even to my kids. The hell, every fighter knows that hurt, and we get sick inside trying to live with it, so don't back off now, make it right for yourself, or you'll be sorry you didn't.
We held the greatest title in the whole world, babe, you lost that fight Rock for all the wrong reasons, you lost your edge! Alright, I know your manager dying had you all messed up inside. But the truth is — you didn't look hungry. Now when we fought, you had that eye of the tiger man, the edge! And now you got to get it back and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning, you know what I mean? Ha-ha, maybe we could win it back together? Eye of the tiger, man.
