The Bayonne Bleeder.

Real Rocky' Wepner finally getting his due.

ESPN: The “Real Rocky” Finally Gets His Due In its 2011 feature on Chuck Wepner, ESPN told the remarkable story of the hard-nosed New Jersey heavyweight whose legendary 1975 championship fight against Muhammad Ali helped inspire one of the most enduring characters in movie history—Rocky Balboa. Wepner entered the fight with Ali as a massive underdog, but he refused to quit. Known throughout boxing as the “Bayonne Bleeder,” Chuck absorbed everything the heavyweight champion could throw at him, knocked Ali down during the fight and battled until the final seconds of the 15th round. With only 19 seconds remaining, Ali finally stopped him. Wepner may not have won the heavyweight championship that night, but his extraordinary determination, toughness and refusal to surrender created a real-life underdog story that would soon resonate far beyond boxing. As ESPN recounts, Sylvester Stallone saw the Ali-Wepner fight and soon afterward wrote Rocky, the story of an overlooked, working-class fighter who receives an improbable opportunity to challenge the heavyweight champion of the world. The film became an international phenomenon, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and created one of cinema’s most famous characters. For years, however, the real fighter behind a significant part of that inspiration received comparatively little recognition. Decades later, ESPN Films helped bring Chuck’s story to a new generation with the documentary The Real Rocky. The film and ESPN’s accompanying feature celebrated more than one famous night in the ring. They told the story of a fighter who faced some of boxing’s greatest names, endured extraordinary punishment, experienced triumphs and setbacks outside the ring, and continued moving forward. Chuck Wepner’s story is ultimately the kind of story audiences associate with Rocky Balboa: an ordinary man presented with an extraordinary opportunity who discovers that sometimes victory isn’t measured simply by whether you win—it is measured by how long you stand, how hard you fight and whether you refuse to quit. Chuck Wepner didn’t come from Hollywood. His story came first.