Carlos Baldomir is the closest to real life Rocky and Zab Judah was Apollo. Carlos was 15-1 underdog and Judah was talking mad **** and even disrespected him during the handshake before the fight.
Rocky Balboa was a real fighter sort of. AKA Rocky Graziano. Rocky's real name was Roco Barbella. He borrowed the name Graziano from another fighter so he could use his license. Rocky as he put it, was incarcerated numerous times so he had to fight under another man's license because he couldn't get one. The scene where Rocky's swollen eye was cut open was taken from a real event when Graziano fought Tony Zale. The cut man used a quarter not a knife to do the deed. It's almost a sure bet Stallone got the inspiration for the name Balboa from Barbella. There is a great video on YouTube with him and SSR talking about their fight. Rocky and Sugar Ray both explain why they changed their names.
How can you answer that? It was just movies. Lucy Lu can beat any man in the movies. The fights are all staged from the first punch to the last. Would the actor who played Rocky make it in real life as a pro boxer? I doubt it.