I'm sad to see him go- he had a varied body of work that I greatly appreciated.
The character arc of Apollo Creed in the Rocky films was virtually unheard of at the time.
His role as Dillon helped set the stage for what was at the time just a hokey Sci Fi action film but grew into the whole Predator franchise. It probably would have happened without him, but he was undeniably a part of it.
More recently he made his mark on Star Wars, another Sci Fi franchise, and although he may not have been there since the beginning, he has carved out his own portion of it as a recurring character on the Mandalorian, every bit as impressive as Apollo Creed.
But, unlike many muscle-bound tough guys of the 80's, he has some serious comedic chops too, as seen when he played a washed up golf pro with a wooden hand in Adam Sandler's infamous Happy Madison, and then as a washed up, broke (and extremely frugal!) version of himself in Arrested Development.
I never knew him as an athlete- I saw him first as Apollo Creed, the blowhard World Champion boxer, beat by some two bit nobody from Phillie in a publicity stunt. Long before I knew his name was Carl Weathers, I'd point him out in all kinds of shows and movies as Apollo Creed.
So yeah, I'm feeling this one.
Def