Sylvester Stallone shares behind-the-scenes Rocky photos of the iconic Apollo Creed fight

It's not only Rocky Balboa who owes his career to the boxing match with Apollo Creed — Sylvester Stallone's career also made the flight with that iconic fight sequence in the film Rocky.

With the success of his latest film Creed, the Italian Stallion felt nostalgic and decided to share some photographs from the 1976 film shooting on Instagram.

"Flashback! Rocky versus Apollo Creed! 1976... One of my favorite photos," he captioned one of him at the receiving end of a powerful punch from Creed played by Carl Weathers.

In an interview with Biography, Stallone spoke further about the film franchise. "With the Rocky movies, I have to tell you: I was pretty surprised when I went back and watched them again at how a lot of it worked really well. Some of it is quaint. Some of it is cute. But they hold up, I think. They hold up for me. There's a real simplicity about the Rocky movies that I wish I could maintain in every film I do," he said.

Rocky Balboa and the original film, both celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2016. "Rocky and me, we've always been the same age, and if you look at each one of the movies, I think you'll see something really special: in those performances, I have literally brought along to the screen all the things that have happened to me in my private life. I think it shows up there on the screen," Stallone added.