Apollo would've still died if Rocky had thrown the towel.
Yes, Drago would've kept on pounding Apollo regardless.
shareIf Rocky woulda thrown the towel that means Apollo concedes (gives up) and if Drago woulda kept punching him and he died then Drago would be charged for murder.
shareYeah, Drago wasn't gonna stop. It was pretty cartoonish, with Drago being this merciliess killer robot whose pushes the ref away to continue pummeling.
In real life, throwing the towel into the ring doesn't really stop a fight anyway. A ref isn't gonna just stop a fight because he sees a towel come in. The towel can be thrown from some drunk *beep* in the crowd for all the ref knows, as the ref is supposed to be focusing on the fighters. If there's a break in the action, then the ref can call time and confirm with the cornerman that they threw the towel, and wish to stop the fight.
A cornerman can stop the fight by telling one of the ringside inspectors that they wish to stop it, or they can actually just enter the ring during the action. Their fighter gets DQ'd and the fight ends.
Rocky simply going onto the ring apron, holding the towel and raising it up (I think this is what he did?) would actually be sufficient to stop the fight, so long as the ref sees it. One example of this is when Floyd Mayweather fought Diego Corrales back in 2001. After Mayweather knocked Corrales down for the 5th time in the fight, Corrales's trainer/stepfather got up on the ring apron, holding a white towel. The ref then stopped it.
All that "throwing the towel in the ring" is just movie stuff.
THANK YOU.
Everyone else was pretty much saying Rocky SHOULD feel bad. Last I checked Apollo was a grown man. An independent, grown man. Albeit a bit of a stubborn one, he was still a strong person who was simply too proud to have the towel thrown in. For him, I think he knew he was going to die, but the principle of having the towel actually thrown in was too much for Creed to bare. He didn't want to concede, he'd rather "go out" doing what was in his blood.
So yeah, Rocky throws the towel. A bell rings, wow. How many times they ring the bell when Drago pummeled Apollo to close out the round prior? Plus Drago shoved the ref almost on his ass. You do the math.