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The
title "Rocky III" is actually displayed on
screen three separate times at the start of the film.
It first scrolls onto the screen from right to left, then is
spelled out in fireworks and finally appears in simple text
at the bottom right of the screen, several minutes later
during the opening credits.
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In
addition to continuing his role as a singer, this time as
the 'headliner' in Rocky's palatial gym, Frank Stallone
(Sly's brother) also plays one of the fighters in the boxing montage at the
beginning of the film.
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The
rematch between Rocky and Clubber Lang is the only fight in
the Rocky series that does not go a full 15 rounds.
It lasts only 3 rounds.
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Sylvester
Stallone's first wife Sasha was the blonde groupie who asked
for and got a kiss from Rocky during his public training
session for his first fight with Clubber Lang.
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Jim
Henson dubbed a special new introduction for a snippet of a
1979 episode of "The Muppet Show" seen in Rocky
III's opening montage.
Stallone really had appeared on the show, but the intro was
changed to: "It's 'The Muppet Show' . . . with our very special guest
star - Rocky Balboa!" 
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Before
the final fight with Clubber Lang, the crowd scenes contain
the picture boards of Rocky and Apollo in the background,
clearly the same crowd footage used in Rocky II.
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In
1982, an official Rocky Pinball Machine was produced and hit
arcades across the country. Although a similar pinball
machine appears at the beginning of Rocky III (the
game that Paulie smashes with his liquor bottle), this
particular machine was never mass-produced but was merely a
prop created for the film. It sported a
specially made backglass created just for the movie.
Read more about it in the memorabilia
section.
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Rocky
III was the first sequel in which Rocky is seen wearing
his famous golden glove necklace. It was later
explained in Rocky V that the tiny boxing glove was
once one of Rocky Marciano's cuff links.
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The
shooting of the boxing/wrestling match between Rocky and
Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan) took a total of ten days to
complete.
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The
ring in which Thunderlips and Rocky fight includes the
modifications used in professional wrestling, such as
half-inch padding under the canvas and shock absorbers under
the plywood, as well as the slightly loosened ropes used in
wrestling.
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Hulk
Hogan was fired from the WWF for taking the role of
Thunderlips.

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Three
bronze Rocky statues (each standing at nearly nine feet
tall) were created for this film, one of which holds a place
of honor at the entrance of the First Union Spectrum in
Philadelphia. A duplicate statue was recently up for
auction on eBay. Check out the Rocky
Statue's History.
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Heavyweight
boxer Ernie Shavers was considered for the role of Clubber
Lang. This was because Sly thought that he was good enough
to fight a real boxer, instead of an actor. But in a
practice fight Shavers, taking it easy on the star, broke
two of Stallone's ribs in less than three rounds, so he was
immediately dropped from consideration for the role.

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Rocky
(1976) and Rocky II (1979) are both set in 1976, and
the events in Rocky III are said to take place three
years later, making it 1979. But the newspaper depicting the
wrestling match with Rocky and Thunderlips gives a date of
1982.
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