Find out which real-life legendary boxing match inspired Sylvester Stallone's 1976 “Rocky,” the film that lifted him out of poverty.
On March 24, 1975, Sylvester Stallone took part in the fight between 33-year-old boxer Mohamed Ali, holder of the world heavyweight title, and 36-year-old Chuck Wepner. The fight should be easy for Ali, already a legend, given this near unknown. Except Wepner, who has been training very hard and full-time for eight weeks, will shake the man we call “The Greatest.”
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In fact, the fight will ultimately last 15 rounds, with both Wepner and Ali looking exhausted at the end. The challenger has both open arches and a broken nose and finally bows out by going down in the 15th round.
If you've ever seen Rocky, you begin to understand where we're going, but the story doesn't end there!
Mohamed Ali is declared the winner by technical knockout. This type of end of the fight is recorded in the event of a competitor leaving or by decision of the referee. In this specific case, referee Tony Perez will make the decision. A referee that Ali will disapprove of at the end of the fight, emphasizing that he allowed many punches that were not tolerated.
Ali was notably sent to the mat after a punch from Wepner, delivered while he was stepping on the champion's foot (who could no longer dodge) and without any reprimand from Perez.
Sylvester Stallone returns home and adapts this fight into a screenplay. Chuck becomes Rocky and Ali becomes Apollo Creed. He wrote the script in three and a half days and began pitching it to producers. The sequel went down in cinema history: Stallone became a superstar, his screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and the film received three statuettes. His career has taken off.
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The interpreter of “The Italian Stallion” will talk about this first inspiration again and again and also refer to the journey of Rocky Marciano, but in 2004 Wepner still sued Stallone because he used his name to promote his films and his career Earn wealth.
This last charge is dismissed by the judges, but the first is retained. The actor will settle the matter by paying an undisclosed sum to the former professional boxer. Chuck Wepler's extraordinary journey was the subject of the film Outsider, in which he is played by Liev Schreiber.