It’s true!
Honest.
Why would I lie?
He did take Ali almost to a decision and he did knock him down.
But Rocky??
Picky point… ALi did go down, and Wepner was initially credited with a knockdown (making him one of the very few men ever to floor Ali), but later, Ali denied he’d been knocked down. He claimed that Wepner had shoved him on a wet portion of the canvas, and that he’d merely slipped and fallen.
Most onlookers agreeed with Ali’s account, and I’m pretty sure the knockdown was nullified later on.
I saw most of that fight today, and I think it’s amazing that that guy inspired anything. He spent the whole fight walking after Ali and getting punched in the face. And occasionally he would miss wildly with a roundhouse punch. His only achievement was staying vertical throughout this awful beating. I’m inclined to think he just had a strong inner ear or something, since he was almost visibly unconscious for 30 seconds before he finally went down.
I don’t know what happened historically, but when I saw the replays it looked like he just happened to hit Ali while he was twisting. He didn’t hurt him or get in a great punch, he may have just hit him at the right time. If he didn’t shove him, that is. I’d also like to suggest that if the cavas was wet, it was probably wet with Wepner’s blood.
I was watching the fight as I posted. Courtesy of ESPN classic.
I saw no shove or slip. The announcers saw no shove or slip. It was in the 9th round. A solid body blow right above the heart. He went down.
Besides that…why would a knockdown be nullified? He won by a TKO not points.
Hell he would have won even if it were points.
Actually, Wepner had stepped on Ali’s foot as Ali was leaning backwards. That was probably just coincidental, but boxer will tell you that if you step on someone’s foot as they’re leaning back, they’ll probably go down. I don’t recall how the video footage showed it, but I remember several days later, some announcer (probably Cosell, of course) talking to Ali, and showing a blow-up of a photo taken by some ringside photographer. Wepner’s foot was clearly shown on Ali’s. Case Closed.
Interesting trivia question: The only men to knock Ali down as a professional?
- Sonny Banks, Henry Cooper, Joe Frazier and Chuck Wepner.
Wepner is the only one to have knocked him down while Ali was the champion.