To say that the character of Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers) is an Ali analogue might appear lazy on paper. After all, both men are boxers, both have a boisterous and boastful personality, both are Black, and so on. Yet despite all the unique qualities that Weathers brought to the role, there’s undeniably some DNA of Ali in Apollo. It’s there clearly enough for Ali himself to have noticed it, hence the moment at the Oscars.

Yet Ali didn’t simply casually observe a connection between himself and Creed. He also articulated it, most succinctly during an interview with film critic Roger Ebert in 1979, where the pair watched “Rocky II” together. In the piece, Ebert speaks to Ali about the general similarities between the events and characters in the film and the boxing world, aspects which Ali gladly corroborates or denies. (During a scene of Rocky weight lifting, Ali says it’s “the worst thing a boxer can do…but it looks good in the movie.”)

However, when Ebert pressed Ali about whether he thinks the Balboa character is inspired by him, Ali sets the record straight about which character is really more like him:

“No way. Rocky doesn’t act nothing like me. Apollo Creed, the way he dances, the way he jabs, the way he talks … that’s me.”

Furthermore, Ali claims that Weathers himself told him that “he got the dancing and the jabbing, the whole style of Apollo Creed” from watching footage of the boxer. For the most part, Ali seemed to be pleased with Apollo and “Rocky” in general, calling “Rocky II” a movie that “has all the ingredients…the excitement never dulled.” Yet there is an aspect of the “Rocky” films (the ones Ali got to see, that is) which the champion had some sobering thoughts about, and stated plainly to Ebert when prompted:

“For the Black man to come out superior would be against America’s teachings. I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring. America has to have its white images, no matter where it gets them. Jesus, Wonder Woman, Tarzan and Rocky.”

Ali passed away in June of 2016, just seven months after the release of Ryan Coogler’s “Creed,” which followed the exploits of Apollo’s son, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), and made Rocky a supporting character. It’s not clear if Ali got to screen the film before he died, but one hopes that if so, Ali enjoyed it just as much as — if not a little more than — he did the first two “Rocky” films.