In 1985, Apollo Creed comes out of retirement and agrees to fight Soviet World Amateur Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist-turned-professional fighter Ivan Drago in Las Vegas with Rocky Balboa and Tony "Duke" Evers in his corner. Creed, past his prime but in the best shape of his retirement, again not taking his opponent seriously, was brutally beaten by massive Drago in the first round but begged Rocky not to stop the fight. In the second round, Creed continued to be beaten by Drago, falling limp in the ring and succumbing to his injuries. Feeling responsible for Apollo's death, Balboa sets up a match with Drago, which was held on Christmas Day in Moscow. Rocky had to surrender his World Heavyweight Championship title to accept this bout. With Evers assuming the role as his new trainer, Balboa trained hard using old-school methods within the mountainous terrain of Krasnoyarsk Siberia, while Drago was shown being trained with state-of-the-art equipment and steroid enhancement.
During the fight, Drago dominated the early moments of the match, but in the second round, Balboa caught Drago with a haymaker to the eye and cut him. The fight continued in a bloody back-and-forth battle, with the Soviet crowd who had originally rooted for Drago began cheering for Balboa while Drago's handler became increasingly upset over his inability to finish the smaller American. In the end, Rocky's superior stamina and determination to win persevered and he defeated the colossal Russian in the fifteenth round. After the fight, Rocky gave an impassioned thank you speech to the crowd which received a standing ovation both from the crowd and the politicians in attendance, effectively ending the Cold War by catalyzing the thaw in relations that would occur between the United States and USSR. Rocky then retires due to damage suffered from the fight.