What was Sly really trying to do here?

About time someone addressed the obvious problem with 'Rocky IV' rather than give that entire millennial response of 'This movie Rocks" (despite the myriad of problems it actually has) What's worse (despite it's sparse narrative) the final fight scene is edited to perfection. I can only guess that Sly had been sampling 'minimalist' cinema, prior to directing this movie?

Trying to save up on film cost lol