DUE to the recent sad passing of George Foreman, the list of fighters from the golden era of the heavyweight division who are still with us took another hit. Following the loss of ‘Big George’, the world is left with scant few ring warriors who so thrilled the world back in the 1970s.
But one of their number is not only still here, he is also in great health – to the extent that, at age 86, he is still working the day job he has loved since the late 1960s. That man is Chuck Wepner.
Wepner, known by numerous monickers – ‘The Bayonne Bleeder’, ‘The Real-life Rocky’, ‘The Great White Hope’ – remains articulate, his memory is sharp and, despite a couple of recent health scares, seems in fine fettle for a man who is not that far off his 90th birthday.
Quite remarkable when we consider the punishment Wepner took while he was fighting and carving out a 36-14-2, 17 KOs, record against some of the best heavyweights the world has ever seen.
Here, speaking with Boxing News just before leaving his home to go to work, a down-to-earth, no-frills Wepner reflects on his amazing life and career.
BN: It’s a real honour to be able to speak with one of the last survivors of the great heavyweight era…
“OK, I’ve got to go to work soon, so what do you need?”
BN: You’re still working now, at your age?
“Yeah, still working. I’ve been working for the same company for 56 years – Allied Liquor, the biggest liquor company in New Jersey. So, I’ve got a good job, I make good money and I like to keep active.”
BN: This interview is all about you, but we must mention the sad passing of George Foreman, who you of course fought back in 1969.
“Oh yeah, that was very shocking. I was just with him last year, and he looked like he was in great shape. We went to a dinner together. I was a little ahead of George [in terms of when we both went pro], but not by much. George came on the scene, and I fought him in the [Madison Square] Garden, and he stopped me on a cut. I was never down or out in 147 fights [amateur and pro], but the cuts, they used to bug me a lot.”
BN: You fought Joe ‘King’ Roman in your fight before fighting Foreman. Roman, of course, went on to challenge George for the world title.
“Yeah, Joe ‘King’ Roman, I fought him in Puerto Rico. I dropped him once, and I chased him the whole fight. You’re not gonna beat him in his hometown. They robbed me [Wepner dropped Roman in round seven but lost a unanimous decision]. He was all right, he was a boxer-puncher, but he wasn’t in George Foreman’s league.”
BN: You are the only man to have fought all three of Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. June 29 was the 50th anniversary of your fight with Liston.
“Yeah, I fought all three, you’re right. For me, well, let me say, Ali was the best all-round fighter ever. He could do it all – he could punch, he could take a punch, and he was in great shape all the time.
“George is a big puncher, but he would run out of gas sometimes. Liston was just a tough guy. I fought Liston wrong; I should have tried to box with Liston, instead I went in there looking to bang him out, and I got busted up early. But I went 10 rounds with him, and nobody was going 10 rounds with him at that time, except for Ali. He was a tough guy, I just fought him wrong.
“I was looking to take him into the fight deep, I figured he’d run out of gas. But I was cut so bad, I couldn’t see him clearly from the sixth round on.
“The referee asked me in the ninth round if I wanted to keep fighting and I said, ‘I’m good, I wanna stay in here.’ He asked me how many fingers he had up, and I said, ‘how many guesses do I get?’
“I was blind from the sixth or seventh round on. That was the first fight where I got cut. It was a bad fight for me when I went in with Liston.”
BN: You must get asked this quite often: Who hit harder, Foreman or Liston?
“[Long pause] I’d say probably Sonny Liston. Foreman caught me, he threw a big hook, a left hook, and I saw it coming and I tried to slip to the right, you know, and throw a right hand over his jab. But I didn’t slip enough, and he just caught me right on the edge of my eye and cut me wide open. That was a bad punch.
“Liston was still a big puncher and a tough guy when he fought me, but I had a problem with the cuts. It’s just one of those things, I could take a great punch, I was always in condition, but I couldn’t stop the cuts. I had 328 stitches in total.”
BN: Of all your achievements in life – being the inspiration for Rocky, knocking Ali down, having movies made about you – what are you most proud of?
“I’d have to say the fight with Muhammad Ali and going 15 rounds. You know, having him down and me putting up a real good fight. That’s the only fight in my whole 17-year career that I got to train full time. The other fights, I used to get up in the morning, do my roadwork, then go to work all day and go to the gym at night. And it was tough. I can tell you times I pulled up at the gym and I just didn’t want to go in. I was so tired, but I went, and I trained. But it was tough not being subsidised.
“Like, some of the other guys, they did nothing but train and fight. But I think I did pretty good for a guy who never had an organisation behind him. But today, I’m still here and I’m still living a good life. My wife and I are in the liquor business, and I’ve been there 56 years.”
BN: You are one of the great survivors, no doubt about it.
“Yeah, the last seven years haven’t been that good to me. I’ve had a cancerous tumour taken out of the top of my head, and I had stomach cancer, and right now I’m fighting LARS [lower anterior resection cancer]. That’s a tough one.
“It’s guys like you that keep me going, because I get these nice interviews, and I get to talk to people.
“The money also keeps me going! My wife and I, we love to travel, and my wife loves to gamble. She’s a big gambler. It’s great money we both make from a great company, and we do very well. I have four children, three sons and a daughter, and I get to treat them well and that makes it all worthwhile. They all went to college, and two of them are members of Mensa. They’re good kids, I never had any kind of trouble with them.”
BN: The Rocky story and film was inspired by you, of course.
“Yeah, Rocky was a great shot for me because it told how I got started and it’s been 50 years almost and people still call me ‘Rocky’; they still call me champ. That makes it all worthwhile.”
