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Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner
Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner was a professional boxing match contested on March 24, 1975, for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Ali won the fight after he knocked out Wepner in the fifteenth round. The fight is notable for being among the four fights in which Ali was officially knocked down in the ring, and for inspiring the 1976 film Rocky.
Wepner was 36 years old at this time, and after winning eight straight fights (including a win over former WBA heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell), had risen to number 8 in the heavyweight ranks. He had earned the moniker "The Bayonne Bleeder" because he would readily get cut during boxing fights, and because he was from Bayonne, New Jersey. Prior to the Ali fight, Wepner had fought with Sonny Liston in Liston's final boxing match; after the bout Wepner had required 120 stitches.
This was Ali's first boxing bout after reclaiming the heavyweight championship from George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle. The fighting odds were 10:1 in favor of Ali, and thus was seen as an easy win for Ali who did minimal training for it. Asked why he had not trained harder for this fight, Ali had commented:
"An old man was once asked by a young man, 'How is it that you look so good and stay in such fine condition at your advanced age?' The old man replied, 'It is the preserved energy of my youth which is now maintaining my life.' That is why my career spanned twenty years. I didn't burn myself out training for guys like Al Lewis, Jürgen Blin, and Chuck Wepner".
Red Smith of The New York Times reported on financing of the fight, "Don King induced a Cleveland tycoon named Carl Lombardo to underwrite the show for $1.3‐million. Video Techniques put in $200,000 and that just about took care of the nut. Video Techniques had snatched the champion out of Top Rank's clutches but now had a mismatch in a cornfield; a million‐dollar turkey in a 5 and 10 cent store."
Ali and Wepner did some television interviews together to promote the fight. They were on The Mike Douglas Show when Ali leaned towards Wepner during a break and said: "Hey Chuck. Do me a favor. When they come back on stage, call me an effing n****r...We'll make it look like a grudge match and sell tickets.” Upon Wepner's refusal to grant him the favor he sought, Ali started shouting as soon as the show's host reappeared on the set: "Do you know what he called me? Do you know what he called me?" Wepner then covered Ali's mouth with his hand. "Ali was a promoter. He was a great promoter and they were trying to hype up the fight," Wepner explained. The fight was billed[by whom?] as Give the White Guy a Break.[citation needed]
Ali would go on to donate 50 cents of each ticket sold for the closed circuit television coverage of the fight to help the drought stricken Sahel region of West Africa.
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Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner
Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner was a professional boxing match contested on March 24, 1975, for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Ali won the fight after he knocked out Wepner in the fifteenth round. The fight is notable for being among the four fights in which Ali was officially knocked down in the ring, and for inspiring the 1976 film Rocky.
Wepner was 36 years old at this time, and after winning eight straight fights (including a win over former WBA heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell), had risen to number 8 in the heavyweight ranks. He had earned the moniker "The Bayonne Bleeder" because he would readily get cut during boxing fights, and because he was from Bayonne, New Jersey. Prior to the Ali fight, Wepner had fought with Sonny Liston in Liston's final boxing match; after the bout Wepner had required 120 stitches.
This was Ali's first boxing bout after reclaiming the heavyweight championship from George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle. The fighting odds were 10:1 in favor of Ali, and thus was seen as an easy win for Ali who did minimal training for it. Asked why he had not trained harder for this fight, Ali had commented:
"An old man was once asked by a young man, 'How is it that you look so good and stay in such fine condition at your advanced age?' The old man replied, 'It is the preserved energy of my youth which is now maintaining my life.' That is why my career spanned twenty years. I didn't burn myself out training for guys like Al Lewis, Jürgen Blin, and Chuck Wepner".
Red Smith of The New York Times reported on financing of the fight, "Don King induced a Cleveland tycoon named Carl Lombardo to underwrite the show for $1.3‐million. Video Techniques put in $200,000 and that just about took care of the nut. Video Techniques had snatched the champion out of Top Rank's clutches but now had a mismatch in a cornfield; a million‐dollar turkey in a 5 and 10 cent store."
Ali and Wepner did some television interviews together to promote the fight. They were on The Mike Douglas Show when Ali leaned towards Wepner during a break and said: "Hey Chuck. Do me a favor. When they come back on stage, call me an effing n****r...We'll make it look like a grudge match and sell tickets.” Upon Wepner's refusal to grant him the favor he sought, Ali started shouting as soon as the show's host reappeared on the set: "Do you know what he called me? Do you know what he called me?" Wepner then covered Ali's mouth with his hand. "Ali was a promoter. He was a great promoter and they were trying to hype up the fight," Wepner explained. The fight was billed[by whom?] as Give the White Guy a Break.[citation needed]
Ali would go on to donate 50 cents of each ticket sold for the closed circuit television coverage of the fight to help the drought stricken Sahel region of West Africa.