“But I had a shot to win a title against the most famous man in the world.”, Wepner went the distance, but the match was brutal. That same evening he began to write.
A week later he had already sold the scenario and won the main role. What is a late satisfaction for Wepner is perfect timing for Stallone. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Bruce Dillin, the owner of Dillin Tire Co. on Kennedy Boulevard and a longtime friend of Wepner's, was accepting an award at a local PAL dinner in 1996. "The stairway made famous by Stallone as his workout... it was really Chuck Wepner getting ready for Ali at that stairway," he said. In 1979, his works were selected by the Shanghai Art Exhibition. “Stallone deserves what he has,” he says. A client orders a case of vodka. Indeed, while Wepner won 35 of his 51 pro bouts, he also had some viciously bloody losses — including a 10th-round TKO by Sonny Liston that left him needing more than 70 stitches in his face. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal), Zhen Wu calls Dillin "the joker" and "my terrible neighbor.". Don King embraced him. So its possible it may have actually been the original Victor the Bear …
He is dressed informally in worn out jogging pants and a short-sleeved T-shirt. In 1985, they met again on a film set situated in a jail in New Jersey. A giant without grace. Fully excited he ran to the corner and told his manager: “Get the motor running, we are driving to the bank, we are millionaires!” “You’d better turn around,” was the answer. But that crashed and burned after the stakeholders learned the piece would cost $500,000, Dillin said.
He saw the première of ‘Rocky’ in New York and was bewildered. Wepner was – like Rocky in the film – a white boxer with a great heart and a little bit of talent. It bears a striking resemblance to Wepner, just with a little more muscle tone. A self-described brawler, he was active in the professional circuit from 1964 to 1978. He learned how to fight in the streets, played rough with teenage gangs, and says that he never got beaten up in a bar or dark alleyway. The real Rocky-steps lead to a memorial statue for war victims, in the City Park of Bayonne. Thanks for contacting us. Just before they began to film ‘Rocky II’, he deleted some scenes during which Wepner was supposed to play his sparring partner, named Ching Webber. Having reached the top, Rocky is stretching his arms out in a triumphal gesture towards heaven. He lost the fight but won the hearts and minds of boxing fans. Dillin has a lot of confidence. More people may know the true story now, since "Chuck," a film starring Liev Schreiber as the boxer, premiered in May 2017 to favorable reviews. Wepner is still in the liquor business. “If Sylvester Stallone wants me for a movie, he knows where to find me,” he said. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. "I wanted to show the power he found in himself, so he could face Muhammad Ali. Manager Al Braverman has said that they took this undignified gig strictly for the money. Always causing trouble for him," Dillin said. As promoter, King lost millions of dollars, which he had borrowed from the Mafia. He had to be stitched 327 times, meanwhile winning countless national titles and selling wines and liquors for a living. He's essentially building this for free. Blood ran in his eyes. And his [fur] was like Brillo. Wepner was in the midst of a hard-partying binge, including a cocaine habit, that would eviscerate much of his $100K windfall.
The author has skilfully patched together bits and pieces from Wepner’s real life with the fight to create an addictive film-drama. Things hit rock bottom in 1985 when, according to Wepner, he “did a friend a favor and brought him an ounce of coke” — although then-Middlesex County prosecutor Alan Rockoff described Wepner as a “mid level” drug dealer in possession of four ounces. Ali himself later said, “There’s not another human being that can go 15 rounds like that.”. “She’s a princess,” says Wepner. © 2020 Advance Local Media LLC. But Wepner handicapped himself: “I had been partying for two days before the audition — drinking, doing coke, not sleeping. © 1995 – 2020 Peter Hossli | design by swissmiss “Stallone’s Rocky is a stupid fellow,” says Wepner. He is driving a massive 60.000 dollar Cadillac – with ‘Champ’ written on its number-plate, a gift from a former Governor of New Jersey. “Stallone consoled me time and again, reas-suring that the right role would surely show up,” says Wepner. It's one of the most famous scenes in cinema history. The daring pugilist, whose bravery in the ring has given, wings to the actor’s career. By Peter Hossli (text) and Charly Kurz (photos), The faded business card tells the whole story. After Wepner introduced him, Dillin floated the idea of the city erecting a statue to honor the boxer. "I have an unlimited amount of people coming.". The statue is now nearly complete.
“I was clearly the underdog,” he says. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. Please do the same and don't copy any of our The place smells of perfume and the mirrored walls make the two bed room apartment in Bayonne, New Jersey, seem bigger than it really is. “Chuck Wepner, Merchant in Wine & Spirits” is printed in bold letters over a faint blue photo in the background showing a sweating hunk proudly walking away from the greatest boxer of all times, who is stretched out on the floor of the ring, knocked down by a terrible blow from his opponent.
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