Ivan Drago

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Ivan Drago (Ru: Иван Драго) is a fictional boxer played by Dolph Lundgren who was featured in Rocky IV in the Rocky series. He is 6 feet 6 inches tall and weights 261 pounds (18 stone 6 pounds).

Ivan Drago (pronounced "Ee-vahn Dragah") is an amateur boxer from the Soviet Union, armed with a punch over 2000 psi. (As an interesting statistical citation, most handguns and a few standard shotguns produce fewer pounds per square inch (PSI) than a punch from Ivan Drago.)

The Soviet officials were convinced that he would beat any American boxer. Apollo Creed came out of retirement to challenge him to an exhibition match, and was helped train by Rocky Balboa. But Drago was resistant to Creed's punches, and his own powerful blows killed Creed in the ring. To avenge Creed's death, Balboa gave up his heavyweight title and travelled to Moscow to fight the Russian. Drago was given hi-tech equipment and injected with drugs to build up his strength, but ultimately lost to a determined Balboa. Even though Drago punched harder and more often, his inhuman strength was not enough to defeat Rocky's heart to avenge Apollo. Dolph Lundgren has said during an interview on I Love the 80s that Drago was definitely a "juicer".

Unlike the opponent from the previous movie, Clubber Lang, Drago is a man of few words. In the movie his wife always speaks for him during interviews. He seems to be a very cold hearted person as shown when he comments on Apollo's death: "If he dies, he dies". Drago appears to be fighting for his country but near the end of his fight with Rocky his promoter, a Soviet official insults him, prompting Drago to throw him off the ring and proclaim that he fights for himself. He is also an Olympic Gold Medalist as portrayed in the film Rocky IV. In Rocky V, we find out that even though Rocky won, he suffered severe cranial trauma at the punishing hands of Drago. As a result, in the battle against Tommy Gunn, Rocky had what can be considered demonic visions of Drago. This could be seen as proof that Ivan Drago is Rocky's greatest opponent to date.

[edit] Quotes

• "You will lose." -To Apollo Creed before the fatal match.
• "I must break you." -To Rocky in the ring before the match starts.
• "If he dies, he dies."
• "I cannot be defeated!"
• "To the end"- Before the final round against Rocky
• "He's like a piece of Iron! He won't break!"
• "Я одержу победу! Для себя! Для себя!" Transliteration: "Ya oderzhu pobedu! Dlya sebya! Dlya sebya!" - Literally: "I will win! For myself! For myself!" Subtitled as "I fight for myself." Russian native speakers find this phrase to be pronounced with a tough non-Russian accent.

Rocky Series
Rocky | Rocky II | Rocky III | Rocky IV | Rocky V | Rocky Balboa
Characters
Rocky Balboa | Apollo Creed | Clubber Lang Ivan Drago | Tommy Gunn | Mason Dixon