During his professional boxing career, Chuck Wepner had more than a few nicknames. Some people called him “The Bayonne Brawler,” because he was from Bayonne, New Jersey and he was a street fighter. After a 1970 loss to Sonny Liston, Wepner became known as “The Bayonne Bleeder” because of the amount of blood that he shed in the ring. However, after 1976, most people knew Chuck Wepner as “the real Rocky.”
In 1975, the largely unknown and little-regarded Chuck Wepner was given the opportunity to challenge Muhammad Ali for the world’s Heavyweight title. For the fight, Ali was paid $1.5 million while Wepner received only $10,000. For Ali, it was supposed to be an easy title defense. For Wepner, it was not only his biggest payday but also his chance to prove that he belonged in the ring with the champ.
During the fight, Wepner shocked everyone by holding his own. In the ninth round, Wepner knocked Ali down and it briefly looked as if the Bayonne Bleeder was about to become the world’s Heavyweight champion. Returning to his corner, Wepner told his manager, “Start the car. We’re going to the bank. We are millionaires!”
His manager replied, “You better turn around. He’s getting back up and he looks pissed off.”
When Ali got back on his feet, he came at Wepner with everything he had. Despite getting decisively outboxed and getting his nose broken during the final rounds, Wepner still went 15 rounds with Ali before the referee stopped the fight and declared Ali to be the winner by technical knockout.
Sitting in a bar and watching the Ali/Wepner fight was a struggling actor named Sylvester Stallone. A few days after the fight, Stallone wrote the first draft of his screenplay for Rocky and the rest is history. However, when Wepner would later try to get paid for inspiring one of the biggest box office hits of all time, Stallone claimed that Wepner had not provided any inspiration at all. Eventually, Wepner took Stallone to court and the case was settled for an undisclosed account.
ESPN Film’s The Real Rocky is an hour-long documentary about Chuck Wepner and his life both before and after Rocky. Featuring extensive interviews with Wepner himself and a group of veteran boxing journalists, The Real Rocky attempts to answer the two questions that haunt Wepner’s career: Was Chuck Wepner the real Rocky and did Wepner really knock down Muhammad Ali?
After the fight, Muhammad Ali claimed that Wepner did not knock him down but instead that Wepner had tripped him. In the documentary, Wepner continues to insist that he did knock Ali down and even says that, if asked, Ali will back him up. However, the documentary features a close-up of a photo that appears to show Wepner throwing a punch while standing on Ali’s foot, which would mean that Ali was right and Wepner did trip him. The Bayonne Bleeder knocking down Muhammad Ali is a great story but it probably did not happen.
As for whether or not Wepner was the real Rocky, the documentary leaves little doubt that he was. Along with the obvious parallels between Wepner vs. Ali and Balboa vs. Creed, the documentary reveals that Wepner later fought an exhibition match with wrestler Andre the Giant, a match that was later recreated in Rocky III. Even after the first movie, Stallone was still borrowing from Wepner’s life.
After his retirement from the ring, Wepner struggled with drug addiction and briefly did some time in prison. In the documentary’s most bittersweet moment, Wepner talks about being locked up in East Jersey State Prison, just to discover that Stallone was also at the prison, shooting a movie where he played a prisoner. After being released, Wepner went back to his job as a liquor salesman, a job that he still holds today.
The Real Rocky is an engrossing documentary that allows Wepner to tell his story in his own words. With Stallone on the verge of winning an Oscar for his latest (and probaly) last performance as Rocky Balboa, now is a great time to watch this documentary and spare a few thoughts for the real Rocky, Chuck Wepner.
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