Recently, when contemplating Stallone’s ‘82 masterpiece Rocky III, I was struck by the brilliance, nay, the genius of the Thunderlips fight scene, and its significance, nay, importance, not only to the storyline, but to the general cultural psyche. More recently, I heard one commentator disparage the scene as unnecessary and totally irrelevant to the story as a whole. He went on to assert that the scene was only a gimmick to try and revitalize a film franchise that had run its course. While some may dismiss the Thunderlips fight as gimmickry and 80’s action movie filler, it actually holds rich and rewarding meaning to the viewer who will see it for the powerful and perceptive look into the male soul that it is.
The movie opens to a montage of Rocky, the heavyweight champion of the world, defending his title in several fights, all of which he wins handily. During this time, Rocky lives a life of ease, facing opponents who never really test him. It is in these days that he fights in an exhibition bout for charity against champion wrestler Thunderlips (played as only he could by Terry “The Hulk” Hogan). In the opening seconds of the fight, Rocky suggests to Thunderlips that they trade some punches, make it look good, and send the crowd home happy. The giant wrestler answers by dropping an anvil of a fist on Rocky, sending him to the mat, flat on his face. A no-holds barred brawl ensues, with Thunderlips seemingly out of his mind, rampaging and roaring all over the ring. But, the moment the fight ends, he coolly says to Rocky: “Good match.” To which a still bewildered Rocky asks: “Why’d you get so crazy on me out there?” And Hogan’s Thunderlips delivers the pivotal line: “That’s the name of the game.”
The Thunderlips fight serves to expose Rocky’s loss of perspective, that he has forgotten what it is to be a warrior. Say what you want about him, but Thunderlips was a warrior. The point was beautifully driven home 24 years and three movies later in the final(?) installment of the Rocky story (no, I don’t count Creed [and because I was so disappointed in Creed, I haven’t even bothered to see Creed II]). In the movie Rocky Balboa , Rocky fights in another exhibition bout, this time in his early 60’s, against the reigning heavyweight world champion. The night before the fight, the champ talks privately with Balboa, offering to “carry” him for a few rounds and not to fight hard unless Rocky forces his hand, very similar to Rocky’s own mindset from Rocky III (which I believe was by design). But, this time, Rocky knows better. The battle-hardened fighter knows what it is to lose touch with the heart of the warrior, a mistake he will not make again. The aged fighter answers the champ, a third of his own age: “A lot of people come to Vegas to lose; I didn’t.”
Gentlemen, each of us, by the grace of the Lord, was called to fight. “…[T]hough we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh…We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Our families, our churches, and the souls around us cannot afford for us to lose that fight. And, if it is lost, fault will not fall to the Lord, whose Word accomplishes its purpose (Isaiah 55:11), but it will be with any of us who forget what we have been called to be.