45 years ago today: Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner

[Auggie]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_vs._Chuck_Wepner

Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner fought each other in a boxing match on March 24, 1975 at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Summit County, Ohio.

This was Ali's first boxing bout after The Rumble in the Jungle.

Ali won the fight after he knocked out Wepner in the fifteenth round. The fight is notable for being among the four fights in which Ali was officially knocked down in the ring, and for inspiring the 1976 film Rocky.

Wepner was 35 years old at this time. His professional record comprised thirty wins, nine losses, and two draws. He had earned the moniker "The Bayonne Bleeder" because he would readily get cut during boxing fights, and because he was from Bayonne, New Jersey. Prior to the Ali fight, Wepner had fought with Sonny Liston in Liston's final boxing match; after the bout Wepner had required 120 stitches.

I remember this fight -- it was big event for Northeast Ohio.

[Midnight Writer]

1. The Bayonne Bleeder has got to be the worst boxing moniker ever.

[madinmaryland]

2. Damn, Auggie. Good to see you back. I remember seeing that fight...

Not in person, BTW, it was a big event in northwest Ohio. All 400 of us!! 🤣🤣

[Auggie]

3. Don King, Redd Foxx, probably Angelo Dundee ... it was a scene.

There wasn't much to get excited about in Northern Ohio in the mid '70s. It's surreal that a heavyweight fight could be scheduled in Richfield, of all places, especially with someone of Ali's stature.