Ioric, why do you find it so hard to believe that people can fight honorably in the old days? You can find plenty of examples of honor taking place practically anywhere in human history, with victory to the participants.
One that comes into mind: the first fight between the Muslims and the Pagans.
To give you the setting, the Pagans had been killing Muslims, throwing crap at their leader and insulting him, and when they finally left Mecca, they had their houses robbed and assassins were sent to kill Muhammed. Finally, deciding that they had been harrassed for long enough, the Muslims got 300 able bodied men against an army of 3000.
Fights back then started by calling for the three champions to duel. Despite how both sides hate each other, this went through perfectly, and when the battle was fought the Muslims won with ridiculously low casualties on their side and ten times as many on the enemy side. The Pagans never even thought to swarm the Muslims, otherwise the outcome was impossible.
If you want to know whether a man can physically overcome enemies single handedly, then look no further than Antar bin Shadad, a Pre-islamic ex-slave turned warrior that wrote and recited poems about how big of a badass he was. He won nearly every battle he was in, no matter what the odds were, and people presumable shat their pants and dug their graves as soon as they saw him, providing they didn't die first. He had his fair share of scars from his reckless behaviour, but he still won more than most men.