[Tommy storms off the post-match press conference in disgust after being criticized by the press]
Tommy Gunn:
What the hell happened in there? I won the damn title and they think I'm a bum! Why didn't you back me up?
Merlin Sheets:
When the press is right, they're right.
Tommy Gunn:
I'm as good as Balboa ever was and I'm tired of being called a damn robot!
Merlin Sheets:
Listen, Tommy. You can't fight the press. I can't fight them. As long as they got Balboa on the brain, he's champ. He fought wars in the ring. Tommy, face facts. You're in his shadow.
Tommy Gunn:
[to George while pointing to Merlin] This is your own man talking!
George Washington Duke:
Listen to me. There is a way to get the respect you deserve. Challenge Balboa to fight.
Merlin Sheets:
George could set it up in just weeks. It'd be the greatest fight ever.
George Washington Duke:
Teacher against student, old lion against young lion. That's the only way you ever gonna get peace of mind. That press will hound you with that man's legend for as long as you wear gloves. You gotta get him into that ring, Tommy, or you'll keep hearing questions like that. Then you'll start to ask yourself, "Could I take him? Am I good enough? Do people really think I'm a carbon copy, or a second-rate pretender who only got a shot because of my skin tone?" You've got to challenge that man to a fight, Tommy Gunn. And if he refuses, you gotta insult him, you gotta dog him, you gotta humiliate him! You gotta do whatever you got to do to get him into that ring! But that's what you got to do.
