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Bayonne Bleeder

Posted by TheFallen on March 06, 2003

In Reply to: Bayonne Bleeder posted by stile on March 06, 2003

: THis is the nickname of the top heavyweight contender-Chuck Wepner. Does anybody know the origin of it?

It's actually fairly simple. Chuck Wepner, from Bayonne, New Jersey, started his 15 year professional boxing career in 1965. He fought several of the greats of that era, including George Foreman, Ernie Terrel and Sonny Liston, and sparred extensively with Joe Frasier when the latter himself was training to fight Ali. Chuck's professional record reads 44 wins, 14 losses and 2 draws.

Wepner was originally dubbed "the Bayonne Brawler", but the ease with which he got cut in the ring - one commentator later confirming "Chuck Wepner, aka, The Bayonne Bleeder, because his skin would split at a cutting glance" - led to that nickname soon being changed. Despite this unfortunate tendency, Wepner had the deserved reputation of never giving up, no matter how badly he was being beaten to a pulp.

Chuck's most famous moment was in 1975, when he was set up as a no-hoper in a fight against Muhammad Ali. Wepner was one of Ali's few challengers who both knocked him down and went almost the entire 15 round distance - actually, up to 19 seconds before the final bell. Numerous sources state that the entire story of the first "Rocky" film is based upon this boxing match between a glamorous world-famous champion and a relatively unknown working-class club boxer.

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