Sylvester Stallone nearly died after Dolph Lundgren 'pulverized' him in Rocky IV
Sylvester Stallone has shed more light on the punch he received from fellow actor Dolph Lundgren that resulted in him being sent to intensive care.
Speaking in his new Netflix documentary, Sly, the Rocky actor reflected on his amazing career and how he went from a normal guy to a Hollywood celebrity.
Talking about his career wouldn’t be complete without a deep dive into the franchise that made him a star, Rocky.
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Stallone explained that while filming Rocky IV, he was pulverized by a punch thrown by Lundgren, who played the antagonist, Drago. Stallone said there were fears he could die and wind up ‘talking to angels’ as a result of the punch.
"Dolph Lundgren, he pulverized me. Later that night, my heart started to swell – which happens when the heart hits the chest,” Stallone explained during the documentary.
“Then my blood pressure went up to 260, and they thought I was going to be talking to angels.
"Next thing I know I’m in intensive care, where I’m surrounded by nuns, and I thought, 'Okay, that’s curtains.'”
"Dolph Lundgren put me in hospital for nine days. I basically summarized it in Rocky IV, when you’re beaten to the ground and you’re praying someone knocks you on the chin so you just don’t suffer anymore, there’s a small voice inside of you that says, 'Give me one more round.'”
Stallone has previously said, while filming the climactic fight scenes, he told Lundgren to forget the choreography and to 'try and clock [him]' for real. Explaining the first minute of the fight would be a free-for-all, Stallone suspects it was an uppercut to the ribs that caused his trip to the hospital later that evening.
Despite the accident, Stallone and Lundgren have remained friends and even starred in other films together, including the essential sequel to Rocky IV, Creed II.
Lungren has previously joked about the incident as well.
“All I did was obey orders. He was the boss. I did what he told me,” Lundgren said while speaking to the Guardian in 2022.
“[Stallone] keeps talking about it, so maybe he’s right. He did go to the hospital, but I don’t know whether it was my punches or the fact that he was so overworked as the director, actor and writer.
"We shot those 15 rounds over two or three weeks, eight or 12 hours a day, so you’re throwing thousands of punches.
"If you don’t connect, it looks a bit fake, but it doesn’t mean you want to hurt the other guy. But there were no hard feelings."
Topics: Celebrity, Sylvester Stallone, Entertainment, Film and TV, Netflix, Documentaries
Gerrard Kaonga