Rocky Balboa already has a statue. Now the ‘real Rocky’ is getting one

In 1975, Chuck Wepner, a journeyman fighter known as the Bayonne Bleeder, was convinced he had snatched the world heavyweight title from Muhammad Ali after knocking the champ to the canvas in the ninth round of a matchup in Cleveland that just about everyone figured would be a cakewalk for Ali.

“I headed back to my corner and said, ‘Start the car — we’re going to the bank, we’re millionaires,’” recalled Wepner,

80. “And my manager said, ‘You better turn around because he’s getting up.’’ Ali rallied to score a technical knockout over Wepner, moments before the final bell, but the underdog from Bayonne, New Jersey, had succeeded in showing the world that he could go the distance with perhaps the greatest fighter ever.

Wepner’s gutsy performance made an impression on many, including a struggling actor named Sylvester Stallone, who made it the climax of the screenplay he wrote for the 1976 film “Rocky.” The movie went on to win three Oscars, including best picture, and catapulted the young actor to stardom.

Wepner went back to his job as a liquor salesman in Bayonne, a working-class town across the harbour from New York City. But he has enjoyed a comeback of sorts in recent years, as the subject of three films. “The Brawler,” starring Zach McGowan, opened in January. Before that there was a 2016 film, “Chuck” with Liev Schreiber. And in 2011 an ESPN documentary, “The Real Rocky”.

A huge mural looming over an auto shop on Broadway in Bayonne pays tribute to his folk hero status. But one tribute Wepner never got was a statue like the one dedicated to the character, Rocky Balboa, outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But now he is getting his statue, at the site of the actual training steps. A longtime friend of Wepner’s who owns a tyre repair shop has raised enough money to commission one.

“Chuck has always represented Bayonne, so we want a proper representation of him here,” said Bruce Dillin, who has turned the waiting room of Dillin Tire,into a crowdsourced Chuck Wepner museum. The 8-ft-tall model of Wepner is now complete, and Dillin is raising money to have it cast in bronze.