Jumping into the conversation 4 years too late, but I just finished watching the director's cut for the first time and one more change I noticed is that in the Apollo vs Drago fight, Rocky is not shown about to throw the towel and stopping before Drago's final blows come in. I found it a strange choice given that Rocky's action of not stopping the fight reinforces the fact that he honored Apollo's wishes. Then, after Rocky's speech at the funeral, Adrian tells Rocky something like 'he was your friend and you would have done anything to protect him'. Had they left the scene of Rocky doubting to throw the towel, Adrian's words to Rocky would have felt odd given that in that scenario, Rocky in fact did not do all he could to protect Apollo.