'Creed 3' trailer pits Jordan against Majors in the ring

LOS ANGELES: This time it is going to be Michael B. Jordan versus Jonathan Majors in 'Creed III', as the first trailer for the movie suggests. MGM and United Artists Releasing debuted footage from the upcoming boxing sequel.

Jordan returns as Adonis 'Donnie' Creed, son of Rocky Balboa's fiercest opponent, Apollo Creed. But the actor is not just throwing punches at Majors' antagonist Damian 'Dame' Anderson in the film, 'Creed III' also marks Jordan's directorial debut, reports 'Variety'.

Just as 'Rocky' star Sylvester Stallone went on to helm four of the franchise's films, Jordan stakes his own claim behind the camera with an ambitious take on the material.

The footage begins with Donnie Creed on top of the world -- a champion boxer on the cover of 'Forbes' magazine, with his wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), a success in her own right as singer, and their daughter Amara (newcomer Mila Davis-Kent) beside them.

"I spent the last seven years of my life living out my wildest dreams," Donnie says. "Bianca. Rocky. My dad. I stood on their shoulders."

According to 'Variety', it's then that the mystery of Majors' role in all of this begins to crystallise, setting up the stakes between Donnie and Dame. "Let me get an autograph?" Dame says, cracking a grin while reclining against Donnie's Rolls-Royce. "You don't remember me, huh?"

'Variety' adds the footage then flashes back to the two as youngsters raising their hands in the air, soon to be confronted by police. Turns out, Dame spent the last 18 years in prison and he's ready to start fresh, or so it seems.

But for Dame, reuniting with his "brother" Donnie and getting back into boxing -- a sport in which he was the better of the two, he notes -- is about much more than winning a championship belt.