Rocky would never have taken the count.
He fell over after knocking Creed down with a punch.
In that instance Creed would take the count, and Rocky would be allowed to just get back up. You don't take a count for a slip a fall or a push.
It a major ball drop.
The Caretaker
I don't know anything about boxing but my college professor is a former prizefighter. He told me anytime a fighter goes to the ground, he has a 10 count to get up on his feet.
shareWith all due respect to your “prof,” he’s wrong. If a fighter’s fall to the canvas is ruled by the referee to be a slip, a tangling of both fighters feet, a push, etc., a count is not required and the ref stops the action, wipes the gloves of the fighter who slipped and action continues. A count will not be administered with the examples I gave.
A count is only given when a fighter goes down as a result of a LEGAL punch.
So yes, I guess technically the OP is right, but I wouldn’t call it a major plot hole. Just a way of pushing along the story to create tension, edge-of-your-seat excitement and drama….
This aside, it looks like Rocky is still staggering to his feet when the referee counts 10. It seems to me, at least in modern boxing, that the fighter has to be established on his feet to get that extra second, so in this it wouldn't be until a second or 2 after the referee counts 10. Not sure what the counts were like in the 70s, and if this would be more likely to pass in that era.
shareInteresting point, D, and I agree for the most part.
Refereeing hasn’t changed enormously, but one area it has is the count, partly due to safety, sometimes due to incompetence. In eras past it was a straight count from the time the ref picked up the count (usually at 2 or 3) from a fight official sitting ringside until the count reaches 10 (the official is usually assigned by the state commission or whatever entity in charge of the rules).
You are right about refs in modern boxing. I think of Jack Reiss in California (he does big Vegas fights too). He has this thing where , for example, when a fallen boxer gets up like at 7 or 8, even at 9, he basically kills a few more seconds by asking a question of two as he looks eye to eye at the fighter; sometimes, I’ve seen Reiss ask the fighter to “walk to me” as he moves back or to the side as he determines the downed fighter’s condition and worthiness to continue. Reiss is known as a good referee, not the best but he’s respected and has a solid reputation; but I always found that interesting because it’s no longer a 10 count when he does that. It seems like a 12 count, or a 15 and sometimes an even longer 18 count. I find that somewhat strange because those extra seconds to recover are huge for a fighter and could appear to be an advantage gained by the fighter who was knocked down or a disadvantage to the fighter who scored the knockdown.
The boxing game is so crippled with crap right now that I like to talk about the sport more than I like to watch it sometimes, lol. Sorry for the long essays, I just really like the game.
Sounds like you’re a fan, so I ask….
Who you got: Fury/Usyk if it ever happens ?
Tank Davis/ Ryan Garcia? Sounds like it’s going to happen
And Spence/Crawford?….if it ever happens
And who’s your favorite boxer? Past or present, doesn’t matter, who?
Thanks for that Vastuntitled! Your responses are really educational and I appreciate it. While I'm a tennis player, I've been a fan of the Rocky series since I was born basically. The first movie I ever saw in a theater was Rocky 4, when I was 4 or 5. All the blood really freaked me out haha.
In real boxing, I've always been a Tyson fan ever his NES video game in the 80s. There was a little motivational note from him to us kids inside each game cartridge along with the instruction manual, so I really thought that was cool. I remember watching ESPN when he lost to Buster Douglas in 1990 and they had a scroll on the bottom that said he was upset. I couldn't believe it.
I don't follow boxing much nowadays, but always watch the Rocky movies when they are on.
I understand what you are saying…and in practice it’s probably right….but here is the exact wording in The boxing rules of Nevada.
“If both unarmed combatants go down at the same time, the count must be continued as long as one is still down. If both unarmed combatants remain down until the count of 10, the contest or exhibition must be stopped and the decision is a technical draw.”
https://boxing.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/boxingnvgov/content/faq/sections/2022-09-20-NRUC-OFFICIAL-FINAL%20DRAFT.pdf#page25