Three-time world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali surprised Sylvester Stallone onstage at the 1977 Oscars, the same year the actor was nominated for his leading role in Rocky.
As Stallone, who played boxing legend Rocky Balboa in the 1976 Oscar-nominated film, introduced himself to audiences, Ali crept behind him on the stage to the chuckle of onlooking attendees.
“You stole my script. I’m the Apollo Creed,” Ali quipped of Stallone’s starring role in the boxing pic. “I saw it. I watched the movie. You stole my script. All that was me, I’m the Apollo Creed!”
The two then entertained audiences by jokingly sparring across the stage, throwing play punches and swings at one another.
Upon taking the podium to present the best supporting actress Oscar, Stallone said of Ali: “I just gotta say one thing. I may not win anything here tonight in the form of an Oscar, but I really feel it’s an amazing privilege to be standing next to a 100 percent certified legend, and it’s something I want to treasure for the rest of my life.”
Stallone on Saturday took to social media to pay tribute to the boxer — who died Friday at a Phoenix hospital at the age of 74 — with a clip of the duo’s Oscar presentation. He wrote of Ali, “Fantastic man who I came to know well.… He was the real Apollo Creed!”
Watch the video below.
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