These are the athletes that could reasonably fight in the next Creed movie

Ja Morant is a tough kid from the ‘burbs, whose dad was also a pro athlete in the same sport, with a successful career and a penchant for fighting. Wait — that’s about 75 percent of the original Creed plot. All we need is a montage of Morant packing on the muscle while his dad eggs him on. I know Morant can’t actually fight, but the important part is that he believes he can.

After Jonathan Majors and Michael B. Jordan settle their beef in the ring, this story writes itself. First, Sharpe and Adonis get into a courtside dispute at a Lakers home game. Sharpe is a retired champ, disgraced commentator, and the uncle of Majors’ Creed III character. He calls Adonis an entitled punk, puts those old man hands on him and next thing you know, things escalate to a point of no return and Adonis vows revenge at Crypto.com Arena — this time for the heavyweight title.

The NBA’s “One Punch Man” has a quick right hook, therefore this wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Just imagine him playing an NBA forward expelled from the league and realizing he enjoys hitting people – maybe a little too much. He works his way through the ranks while simultaneously fighting personal demons. Things escalate further when he throws a cheap shot at the weigh-in and accidentally hits Rocky Balboa, who suffers a heart attack. That night, Adonis listens to Draymond’s pod and decides to settle the score.

OK, his legal name is now Metta Sandiford-Artest, but for the sake of this production, his SAG card will identify him as World Peace. What happens when a boxer/rapper multi-hyphenate who gets released by Bianca’s label (played by Tessa Thompson) releases a diss track so vindictive Adonis has to respond? The climax of the film would occur in the second act when World Peace gets both of their licenses suspended for a year by various boxing commissions after they spark a brawl in MGM Grand Arena. Instead, they pull a Rocky 5 and continue the fight…on the street? (1980s Philadelphia was such a lawless place)

The Creed series can be gravely serious sometimes. It could use some of the levity that Rocky Balboa provided, plus Nate Robinson deserves a redemption arc. Imagine Adonis at the weigh-in cracking short jokes and one-liners about the 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson, only for NateRob to subvert expectations by utilizing his quickness and compact frame to hand Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis a whooping in the opening rounds.

Geopolitical issues have often been at the heart of this franchise. What if Creed’s opponents were just a reverse Russian doll of increasingly larger Russian fighters until he gets to 7-foot-4 Boban Marjanović? Sure, Boban’s not actually Russian, but this is Hollywood. He’s already demonstrated his chops against Keanu Reeves in John Wick 3.

It just makes sense. He’s not an upper-echelon UFC fighter anymore. He’s content living the good life rather than actually becoming a champion in the octagon again. Isn’t that essentially Adonis Creed’s (spoiler-free) arc? McGregor has it in him to portray the most obnoxious antagonist in the franchise since Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed in the ring. Also, half the appeal of the early Rocky movies was the racial dynamics at play and if anyone could enthrall White America, dig up some of that era’s taboo tribalism, and get them to the box office, it’s McGregor.

This casting decision would make bank for Warner Bros. studio just off the name brands attached. The marketing of a major motion picture starring Scotty Pippen (Jr.) and Michael (B.) Jordan would be worth it for the movie’s credits alone. Ryan Coogler’s brother Keenan wrote the screenplay for Creed III. This is a family production and quickly becoming the Fast & Furious of boxing franchises anyways. Now that you mention it, crawl over to the next slide.

Before signing onto any production, Johnson allegedly inserts a clause into his contracts that stipulates he can never lose an on-screen fight. How that meshes with appearing in another actor’s franchise is we want to find out. Johnson possesses on-screen charisma in spades, so he’d bring some of Apollo Creed’s showmanship back to Hollywood’s longest-running boxing storyline.

An even-handed compromise would be that in exchange for removing the no-lose clause from his next contract, he gets the Jason Statham deal that compensates him extra for every punch he takes in a film. This wouldn’t have to settle for being JUST a boxing movie. Throw in a side mission and some drug lords they have to save Adonis’ wife and child from, then we’re cookin’ with hot grease now.

Michael B. Jordan can’t hold onto the title forever. If Bronny James has any of his pops’ Hollywood aspirations, taking a title away from Jordan would make him and the James family proud. His dad already has a nine-figure development deal with Warner Bros., so his son has the inside track here too.