Tomorrow's Joe: The later English releases of Ashita no Joe has the main character renamed "Rocky Joe" in reference to the Rocky franchise.
Baki the Grappler: A promotional image of Rocky was illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki, the author of Baki. The crossover excited some fans, with them (erroneously) believing that Rocky or some approximation of himself will debut in the manga like Muhammad Ali before him.
To Love Ru: In Episode 7, Ren goes to the theater to watch a boxing movie called "Pocky".
When Makunouchi Ippo meets Takeshi "Naniwa's Rocky" Sendo for the first time, Sendo goes out of his way to clarify his nickname is an homage to Rocky Marciano and not that other more famous Rocky.note Humorously, although Sendo denies being nicknamed after Rocky Balboa, several frames of the anime show the former having a similar expression to the latter.
Volg takes notes from fictional boxer Ivan Drago from the movie Rocky IV because they're both at times cold, quiet, and stoicnote (but in a good way with Volg, because he's a soft-spoken introvert) with a Berserk Button.note Like Drago and even Sendo, Volg has a tendency to lose himself and go wild in his fights, resulting in him doing bloodthirsty things like punching after the bell or ignoring a referee stoppage to dole out more damage.
In Chapter 942, because the crowd was so pissed off at Takamura's performance during the Mamoru Takamura vs. Peter Rabbitson match, they started cheering for Rabbitson instead, which is seemingly a parody of what happened during the Drago vs. Balboa match in Rocky IV.note Ironically enough, because Rabbitson started going on the offensive against Takamura after hearing those cheers instead of outboxing him to get the decision win, that's when Takamura was able to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
Incredibles 2: Bob uses the "eat lighting and crap thunder" line.
In The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, one of Rex Dangervest's raptors, most of whom are named after action film protagonists, is named Rocky.
In Hercules, the song "Go the Distance" is less a reference to the originally gifted strong half-god Hercules/Heracles of Ancient Roman/Greek mythology and more a shout-out to the most famous underdog of all time, Rocky Balboa.
In Like No Other Boy, Chris thinks that the crazed glint in his father's eye reminds him of Rocky's manager.
The Roosevelt: In Shelter the Sea, Emmet wants to give his friends a pep talk before lobby day. He considers borrowing the one from Rocky Balboa, but it talks too much about hitting people.
In The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, Sam's dad gets them a punching bag for Christmas and says, "We'll have you giving Stallone a run for his money in no time."
In Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, Gabe plays an hour of sports-themed music on his radio show. One of the songs is the Rocky theme.
In the Fantasy Island episode "The Pug," a boxer is compared to a potential Rocky - he's a down-and-outer with the opportunity to fight a champion.
One In Living Color! skit portrays Rocky going up against (and losing) to Grace Jones. She even starts singing "Slave To The Rhythm" after defeating him while he cries out for Adrian.
Bargearse. Da Chief orders Bargearse to lose weight after eating too many donuts, so Bargearse tries jogging to "Gonna Fly Now" only to keel over from a heart attack. "It was your fault for playing that Rocky theme!"
At one point in The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, McQueen visits a gym run by a man named Mickey who looks (as much as an character in a low-res retro game can look) like the Mickey from Rocky.
Frenzy! have a Rock Monster boss named Rocky. And to enforce the reference, the password to it's stage is "Adrian!"
Spider-Man (PS4): Spidey makes a pun about Vulture having the same name as Rocky’s girlfriend. He doesn't get it, but Electro does.
Spider-Man:Yo Adrian - it's me, Spider-Man! Vulture: What are you babbling about? Spider-Man:[disappointed] Nobody ever gets my jokes.
[later]
Electro: Spider-Man - I must break you! Spider-Man:[ecstatic] You got it! You got my joke! I'm so happy I could almost stop fighting! Almost!
The "Goodfeathers" episode "Raging Bird" has Squit being trained to box by an owl parody of Mickey, and his Training Montage ends with Squit running up stairs and getting stepped on by Rocky himself.
One episode had Brain do a shot-for-shot remake of Rocky's Training Montage from Rocky IV, complete with the song "Hearts On Fire". Then Stewie reminds him that he was supposed to be studying for a written college exam so that workout was for nothing.
"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" did the joke again with Luke Skywalker/Chris playing the part of Rocky whilst Yoda takes Paulie's role in the other training montage from Rocky IV, complete with cutting to the footage of Ivan Drago training from the movie. At the end of the montage Luke/Chris points out that "it kinda seems like the Dark Side has a better gym than us."
The Looney Tunes Show: In "Bobcats On Three!", when Daffy trains Gossamer and his classmates for water polo, he describes the plot of the first Rocky movie.
The Simpsons: In "Lemon of Troy", Bart ends up in the tiger-feeding area at the Shelbyville Zoo, which has several doors with Roman numerals on them. The 7th door is the exit, while the other doors lead to man-eating tigers. However, Bart has trouble with Roman numerals, until he remembers the Rocky movies:
Bart: Okay, think, Bart... Where have you seen Roman numerals before... I know!Rocky Vee! That was the fifth one! So... (points to the "V" door)Rocky V plus (points to the "II" door)Rocky II equals... (points to the "VII" door)Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge!
An episode of Tiny Toon Adventures has Plucky attempting to bypass a guard at a studio by dressing up as various celebrities. At one point, he dresses up like Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, only for the guard to KO him into the distance.
of Rocky was illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki, the author of Baki. The crossover excited some fans, with them (erroneously) believing that Rocky or some approximation of himself will debut in the manga like Muhammad Ali before him.