Through fate or whatever, I ended up at the Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight. Wepner, a battling bruising type of club fighter who had never really made the big, big time, was now having his shot. But the fight was not regarded as a serious battle. It was called a public joke. He would barely go three rounds, most of the predictions said. Well, the history books will read that he went 15 rounds and established himself as one of the few men who had ever gone the distance with Muhammad Ali, and he can hold his head up high forever no matter what happens.
The character of "Rocky Balboa" was partially inspired by former heavyweight Chuck Wepner.
I am sure that moment meant more to Wepner than any money he could ever receive from fighting because now he had run the complete circle. This is why he had been training for 34 years.
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