Trivia

According to an interview given by Mr. T, he attended the movie's premiere with his mother. During the scene where he yells lurid remarks at Adrian, his mother turned to him and said, "I did not raise you to talk to a lady like that." She then stormed out of the theater.

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. She is also the mother of Sage Stallone, who passed away in 2012.

Rocky III (1982) is Carl Weathers' favorite film in the "Rocky" saga because he thinks Apollo Creed is humanized so well in it.

During the making of Rocky III (1982), a nine foot tall, 1,500 pound bronze statue designed by A. Thomas Schomberg was placed at the top of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. After filming wrapped, Sylvester Stallone tried to donate the statue to the museum but they said they didn't want it, sparking a huge debate between the Museum and the City's Art Commission about what constituted 'art'. The museum claimed the statue was nothing more than a "movie prop", and didn't want it. Local people were outraged, and the statue was ultimately placed in front of the Wachovia Spectrum in South Philadelphia. It was later returned to the Art Museum for the filming of Rocky V (1990), after which it was again moved to the front of the Spectrum. Later the statue was put into storage, and then moved to a park at the foot of the famous stairs leading up to the Philadelphia Museum of Arts.

In the scene where Rocky body-slams Thunderlips out of the ring, Sylvester Stallone admitted that he couldn't dead-lift Hulk Hogan so he had Hogan jump into his arms.

LeRoy Neiman: Artist makes a cameo appearance as the ring announcer in the Rocky-Thunderlips charity match. Neiman would also appear in Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1990) and Rocky Balboa (2006). A painting by Neiman featuring Rocky and Apollo is shown in the closing credits, and can also be seen in Rocky's restaurant in Rocky Balboa (2006). LeRoy Neiman also appeared in Rocky II (1979). He was the artist wearing the white suit and white hat sketching Apollo while he was training for his rematch with Rocky.