In short, the answer is no. Organized bloodsport entertainment where enslaved persons were forced to fight to the death are a creation of the world in which the film takes place, and do not reflect the reality of enslavement in the American South. But it isn't entirely created from whole clothe, and the use of enslaved bodies for entertainment through violence was hardly unheard of, just not of the kind that was intended to end in death. This included boxing, wrestling, and also just rough-and-tumble fighting for the enjoyment of white onlookers.

Henry Bibb, a formerly enslaved man, published a narrative in 1849 and described one such practice thus:

Those who make no profession of religion, resort to the woods in large numbers on that day to gamble, fight, get drunk, and break the Sabbath. This is often encouraged by slaveholders.

When they wish to have a little sport of that kind, they go among the slaves and give them whiskey, to see them dance, “pat juber,” sing and play on the banjo. then get them to wrestling, fighting, jumping, running foot races, and butting each other like sheep. this is urged on by giving them whiskey; making bets on them; laying chips on one slave’s head, and daring another to tip it off with his hand; and if he tipped it off, it be called an insult, and cause a fight.

Before fighting, the parties choose their seconds to stand by them while fighting; a ring or a circle is formed to fight in, and no one is allowed to enter the ring while they are fighting, but their seconds, and the white gentlemen. They are not allowed to fight a duel, nor to use weapons any kind. The blows are made by kicking, knocking, and butting with their heads; they grab each other by their ears, and jam their heads together like sheep. If they are likely to hurt each other very bad, their masters would rap them with their walking canes, and make them stop. After fighting, they make friends, shake hands, and take a dram together, and there is no more of it.

More formally organized fights were also quite common, and some white enslavers did indeed have a specific enslaved man who was kept primarily as a prizefighter to be used in matches arranged with other owners, and a hefty purse to the winnering enslaver. But this also circles back to the initial question, and specifically why this wasn't to the death. These enslaved men were, plainly put, quite valuable, and far more so alive than dead, and their fighting abilities only added to it. Recalling a slave auction, one former enslaved man recalled:

De ole auctioneer start de biddin’ off. he say, ‘Dis n----r is eighteen years ole, he soun’ as a dollar, an’ he kin pick three hundred pounds o' cotton a day, good disposition, easy ter manage, come up an’ examine him, look at his shoulders, regular prize-fighter; good cotton picker.’

That isn't to say that such matches couldn't be incredibly violent, but there was a vested interest in the survival of the fighters, although certainly the fighters could be incentivized to give it their all. Deaths may have occurred - as can in any boxing match - but it was never the intention. John Finnely, a formerly enslaved man, provides a vivid recollection of one such prizefight:

De fight am held at night by de pine torch light. a ring am made by de fo’ks standin’ ’roun’ in de circle an’ de n----rs git in dat circle. Deys fight widout a rest ’til one give up or can’t git up. Deys ’lowed to do anything wid dey hands, head and teeth. Sho, dat’s it. Nothin’ barred ’cept de knife an’ clubs. Well sar, dem two n----rs gits into de ring. tom, dat am de Marster’s n----r, him stahts quick lak him always do but de udder n----r stahts jus’ as quick an’ dat ’sprise tom. It am de fust time a n----rs jus’ as quick as him. W’en deys come togedder, it am lak two bulls. Kersmash!, it sounds w’en deys hits. Den it am hit, kick, bite, an’ butt anywhar, anyplace, anyway fo’ to best de udder. Fust one down an’ de udder on top apoundin,’ den ’tis de udder one on top. De one on de bottom, bites knees or anything dat him can do. Dat’s de way it goes fo’ ha’f an houah. Both am awful tired an’ gittin’ slow but am still fightin.’ ’taint much ’vantage fo’ either one. Finally dat udder n----r gits tom in de stomach wid his knee an’ a lick ’side de jaw at de same time. Down goes tom an’ de udder n----r jumps on him wid both feet, den straddles him an’ hits wid right, left, right, left, right, side tom’s head. Dere tom layed makin’ no ’sistence. ever’body am saysin,’ “tom have met his match, him am done.” Both am bleedin’ an’ am awful sight. Well, dat n----r relaxes fo ’to git his wind or something an’ den tom, quick lak a flash, flips him off an’ jumps to his feet. Befo’ dat n----r could git to his feet, tom kicks him in de stomach, ’gain an’ ’gain. Dat n----r’s body stahts to quiver an’ his Marster says, “’nough.” Dat am de clostest dat tom ever came to gittin’ whupped dat I’s know ob.

An utterly bloody spectacle, but also worth noting how the white enslaver stepped in eventually to prevent further damage to his human property.

It must be noted that, while, in the end, we must look at this as exploitation of enslaved bodies by white enslavers, within the framework that these men were forced to exist, they did gain from it too, accounts of enslaved prize-fighters noting that they did take pride in their abilities and found a sense of masculine self-worth. Manumission was unlikely to result, with only a few known cases of boxers earning their freedom, but a successful fighter could also gain perks, being better fed and worked less when not fighting. Boxing was also an activity that enslaved men could genuinely enjoy, and plenty of accounts exist to demonstrate that matches were often arranged for the sole entertainment of their fellow enslaved persons, often against the rules of the plantation even, which would generally prohibit fighting amongst the enslaved.

Still though, despite that it musn't move our frame of reference too far. Making the best of circumstances, and attempting to gain what self-respect he could out of it doesn't erase the framework of enslavement which placed the prizefighter where he was. These fights were not to the death, but they could be deadly, and they reflected exploitation of the enslaved body and abilities for enjoyment and gain by white enslavers that characterized slavery as a whole.

Sources

Calogero, Bill. "Tom Molineau: From Slave to American Heavyweight Champion" in The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s. Ed. Mark Scott. McFarland, 2011.

Lussana, Sergio. My Brother Slaves: Friendship, Masculinity, and Resistance in the Antebellum South. University Press of Kentucky, 2016.