Sylvester Stallone shares photo of rare deleted scene from 'Rocky'

— -- Sylvester Stallone is giving "Rocky" fans a real treat.

The actor posted a rare photo of a deleted scene from the 1976 boxing film to Instagram, depicting his iconic character Rocky staring down his opponent, Dipper, played by actor Stan Shaw.

In a caption, Stallone noted that "unfortunately the studio burned all THE OUT TAKES by accident and only a few pictures remain."

"This is the moment before ROCKY and knocks out DIPPER, (played by the excellent Stan Shaw) who threatens him and took his locker! KEEP PUNCHING MY FRIENDS," he concluded.

It's not the first time Stallone, 71, shared throwback photos from the "Rocky" film franchise.

In fact, he's been sporadically posting pictures from the films since the last one in the franchise -- 2015's "Creed" -- earned him an Oscar nomination.

It's not hard to understand why Stallone loves the "Rocky" film franchise. Before the Oscar-winning film, Stallone couldn't get a job in Hollywood and was struggling financially.

"I couldn't even get [cast] as an Italian," he said in an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts for the ABC News special, "Journey to the Oscars."

That's when Stallone wrote the screenplay for "Rocky" in nearly four days and the rest is history.