Thirty years after Apollo Creed died in the ring his son Adonis Creek makes his mark.

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2016)

Watched this movie at home on DVD from my local public library. Basic rental DVD, movie only, no extras. My wife only watched the first 1/3 of it, she isn't much into boxing movies.
It was 30 years earlier, in 1985's Rocky IV, that Apollo Creed died in the ring at the fists of a Russian fighter. Now in 2015 that is a distant memory for Rocky Balboa (Stallone) as he is enjoying retirement in Philadelphia.
The movie actually starts some 20 years earlier, we see a boy named Adonis frequently getting in trouble at school, almost always fighting and getting the best of larger boys. It seems he was born to fight.
We soon figure out Adonis, often called Don, is the out-of-wedlock child of Apollo Creed, born right after his dad died so he never got to meet him. But Creed's wife, Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne Creed, takes in the boy and raises him.
When the story cuts again to present time we see Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson (Creed will come later) fighting in Mexico most weekends, winning all his fights and earning some extra money. But weekdays he has a white collar office job in San Diego, and in fact is being promoted. But he quits instead, he wants to give his fighting career full attention.
He travels to Philadelphia and looks up Rocky. He talks Rocky into not only training him but also let him live with him. Naturally a love interest must enter, it is pretty Tessa Thompson as budding singer Bianca.
The movie could have become very trite and syrupy but it doesn't. It presents a plausible fictional story and we see Rocky training a young man who becomes almost family to him, and caring about him like his own son.
Training is rushed to take advantage of a quick title fight before the fighter has to go off to jail for assault. That part is played by real British champion fighter Tony Bellew as 'Pretty' Ricky Conlan.
Overall a very good movie.
SPOILERS for my own recollection - The title fight is held, no one gave Adonis much of a chance to even go beyond 2 or 3 rounds, but he fights bravely and even knocks the champ down, almost for a ten-count. But in the end Adonis loses the fight by a split decision and the champ whispers in his ear that he is the future of their division.