Corrected entry: After Rocky defeats Drago, he is speaking in the ring and mentions that his son should be sleeping by that time. In the montage following Rocky and Adrian's discussion about the fight with Drago (the one where they're on the staircase), there's a shot showing that Rocky's car has a Pennsylvania license plate. Moscow is eight hours ahead of the eastern time zone of the United States. For Rocky Jr. to be up past his bedtime watching his dad, the fight had to have taken place very early in the morning Moscow time. For example, if it's 11:00pm in Philadelphia, it's 7:00am in Moscow.
Gibbsdoc
3rd Mar 2010
Rocky IV (1985)
28th May 2005
Rocky IV (1985)
Corrected entry: In the first fight between Apollo and Drago, towards the end of Round 1 and even into Round 2, Apollo is getting pummeled. Before his eventual knockdown (and death) mid Round 2, we see the referee step in to try and control Drago, and he is violently shoved aside, and the match continues. Anybody knows in real boxing, within seconds the referee would have stopped the match and disqualified the offending boxer, if not already stopping the match minutes or rounds beforehand for one boxer dominating over the other.
Correction: This is an exhibition bout, not a sanctioned event. The referee may not even be certified but may be a "celebrity" referee; there may not even be a licensed fight doctor with the authority to stop the fight (which certainly would have happened whether Apollo wanted to stop or not). The unofficial nature of the fight adds to the tragedy of the events and emphasizes the ruthlessness of the Russian fighter - no mistake here.
16th May 2004
Rocky IV (1985)
Corrected entry: During the 2nd round of the fight between Drago and Rocky, after getting tossed to the ground by Drago, Rocky makes his way up and out of the corner and takes a couple of hits to the head and goes right back down to the ground and gets back up. The referee does not start a count on Rocky for being knocked down. Even though this is an exhibition bout, the standing eight count rule should still be in effect in this case. According to professional boxing rules (Safety During the Competition) the standing eight count is "waived in some circumstances." Considering Drago killed Apollo Creed and was killing Rocky up to that point in the bout, the standing eight count should not have been waived.
Correction: Once again, it is emphasized that this is an exhibition bout, not sanctioned. There is no way to know what rules are in force and which are not; since this is a Russian referee and the bout is taking place in Russia and the entire event is set up to see the Russian destroy Rocky, the idea that a standing eight count would be mandatory seems to be a stretch. In any case, it is a character choice (the ref) not a movie mistake.
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Correction: Rocky has always been portrayed as being of somewhat below average intelligence and may not know what the time difference is between Philly and Moscow. Plenty of very intelligent people make these mistakes all the time and they haven't been pounded for 15 rounds by Dolf Lundgren. The movie never states when the bout is held although evening is assumed. In any case, it is a character mistake not a movie mistake.
Gibbsdoc