James Lang lost both of his parents at an early age, and spent most of his childhood in orphanages and on the streets of Chicago's Southside; he eventually became involved with crime, and served time in juvenile facilities. Later, as an adult, Clubber was sent to prison for five years for felony aggravated assault. During his time in prison, he discovered boxing as a way to let out his frustration and anger, which leads to the events of Rocky III. This is also evident in the gameRocky Legends, where Clubber's storyline begins with him fighting in the Chicago Prison in a ring actually inside the prison itself. One novelization of the film called Lang's manager "Donut."
Rocky III
During Rocky III's intro, Rocky is shown easily defeating numerous contenders in a montage, during which Lang is shown annoyed at Rocky apparently coasting through his title defenses. Lang decides to begin training himself to challenge Rocky and his methods bring results as he puts together a string of knockouts that soon make him the number one contender. He appears at a public event to goad a now complacent Rocky who is announcing his retirement. Lang finally infuriates Rocky by propositioning his wife Adrian in front of Rocky's numerous fans and the television media, and Rocky agrees to fight him. Rocky expects another easy victory and continues his complacent attitude towards training, which angers and worries his manager and trainer Mickey Goldmill. On the night of the fight, Lang taunts the champion in the hallway as they are walking to the ring and provokes a scuffle between the two camps, shoving Mickey so hard that the latter suffers a heart attack which further distracts Rocky from the fight. He also angers former champion Apollo Creed by refusing to shake his hand before the fight and mocking him as a "has been". Creed tells Balboa, "Give everybody a present and drop this chump." Lang overwhelms Rocky and knocks him out in two rounds. Lang's first defense of his newly-won title is a rematch against Rocky. Balboa has learned a newer boxing style based on speed and finesse from Creed. The champion has trouble with Rocky's new technique and soon tires after becoming enraged and throwing a large number of wild hooks, attempting to knock Rocky out quickly. Although several punches are damaging, Balboa taunts Lang by saying "knock me out, champ" and claiming the resulting punches were "nothing", further enraging Lang who continues to swing wildly. Rocky exploits his opponent's exhaustion and knocks him out in the third round. Lang's career results following the second fight with Balboa are unknown; outside of a replay of the final round in the beginning of Rocky IV, he was not seen in any of the four films that followed. In one version of the script of Rocky Balboa, Lang became a born-again Christian and was now addressed by his given name of James. Lang was also slated to be one of the commentators of the Balboa vs. Mason "The Line" Dixon fight.. There has been speculation that James Lang may resurface in Creed III.
