Sylvester Stallone posted a tribute to Carl Weathers on Friday to honored his former “Rocky” co-star after news of the 76-year-old actor’s death.

A statement shared by Weathers’ family stated that the actor died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday.

“We lost a legend yesterday,” Stallone posted on Instagram. “My life was forever changed for the better the day I met Carl Weathers. Rest in power and keeping punching.

He posted a video with the following message:

“Today is an incredibly sad day for me,” he said. “I’m so torn up, I can’t even tell you. I’m just trying to hold it in because Carl Weathers was such an integral part of my life, my success. Everything about it, I give him incredible credit and kudos because when he walked into that room and I saw him for the first time, I saw greatness. But I didn’t realize how great.

“I never could’ve accomplished what we did with ‘Rocky’ without him.”

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Stallone described Weathers as “absolutely brilliant, his voice, his size, his presence, his athletic ability, but, most importantly, his heart, his soul. It’s a horrible loss,”

Stallone even explained the painting hanging behind him in the video.

“It was probably the last moment we were ever in the ring together and I’ll never forget,” Stallone said. “He was magic. I was so fortunate to be part of his life. Apollo, keep punching.”

On Friday, Weathers’ family announced that the actor and former NFL player died peacefully on Thursday.

The former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” was 76.

Creed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984′s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroid-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. Before he entered the ring, James Brown sang “Living in America” with showgirls and Creed popped up on a balcony in a Star-Spangled Banner shorts and waistcoat combo and an Uncle Sam hat, dancing and taunting Drago.

A bloodied Creed collapses in the ring after taking a vicious beating, twitches and is cradled by Rocky as he dies, inevitably setting up a fight between Drago and Rocky. But while Creed is gone, his character’s son, Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed, would lead his own boxing trilogy starting in 2015.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.