Final fight *Obvious spoiler warning*

Just finished watching the movie. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm divided over whether the ending of the fight was a cop-out. I mean, normally, having the hero of the story win by knockout in the final round is the cop-out, but perhaps because we technically haven't seen that ending to a Rocky movie since 1985, I was kinda missing it and hoping for Creed to knock Conlan out, especially since the previous film in the series ALSO ended with the underdog losing on points but proving he's no pushover. So my reaction was almost "Ugh, not this again".

I also think they built up "Pretty" Conlan to be enough of an a**hole that the audience would have relished a knockout. I didn't buy that Conlan immediately turned into an honorable fighter (referring to his kind words to Creed) not one round after he was still showboating like a jacka**. By contrast, Apollo's gradually increasing respect for Rocky over the course of the first three films felt much more organic and believable.

Not sure if this alternate ending would have written the story into a corner, though, assuming Creed would win the title. Anyway, minor nitpick in what was an otherwise great movie!