10. Ivan Drago - Rocky IV
What a man. What a man mountain of a man. Whats not to support here? He was an Olympic gold medallist. An amateur boxing champion with over one hundred wins on his card, most by knockout, and he was even a Captain in the Soviet Army. He was also fiercely patriotic and, on top of all that, he was a shy personable gent who didnt brag about his achievements. So what does this top athlete do? He looks for his next challenge which just happens to be in America. Bringing his talent to the people. Good on him. What hes met with, though, is the jingoistic braggart Apollo Creed. A man with such an ego that he needs to dress as Uncle Sam whilst dancing to Livin In America to make an entrance. Jeez, Creed, we get it. At the press conference, Apollo bullies our Russian hero and makes fun of his homeland. If Drago did that to America he would be considered the bad guy but, guess what, hes considered the bad guy anyway. In the ring, all he wanted to do was teach the big-mouth a lesson and, lets be honest here, Apollos unfortunate demise in the ring was Rockys fault for not throwing in the towel. After the bout, Drago and his lovely wife Ludmilla, are subjected to death threats and Rocky, because he feels guilty that he caused Creeds death, agrees to a bout in Russia. Here, again, Drago thinks of the people and the fight is on Christmas Day because he knows the viewing figures will be huge and so advertising revenue will help both boxers financially. So hes even a great business man. The fact that he lost to Balboa was probably because he felt the weight of all the jingoistic comments against him. A great, humble sportsman subjected to national prejudices and appalling bullying. Lets just not talk about the steroids.