THE REAL ROCKY

 

The Real Rocky is a documentary about noted "white" boxer Chuck Wepner. Wepner, who also went by the nickname The Bayonne Bleeder during his boxing career (and I think you can easily see why from the above poster), has two claims to fame: One, he was one of the few people to knock down Muhammad Ali during their fight (although Ali, in typical Ali fashion, claimed afterwards how Chuck had stepped on his foot and that's the reason why he feel down), and two, Sylvester Stallone claimed numerous times how Wepner was the inspiration for his Rocky character after seeing his fight with Ali (although he would later deny it when Chuck sued him, which I'll get into in a bit). The documentary features clips from not only the Ali fight but from other fights with Wepner, including one he did with noted pro-wrestling legend the late Andre The Giant (which also reportedly served as the inspiration for the Rocky character's "fight" with Hulk Hogan in the third Rocky film, which Stallone would also later deny even though, if you watch both fights, the similarities are pretty obvious). It also features interviews with Wepner himself who muses about his career and his various trials & tribulations, including when he sued Sylvester Stallone for blatantly profiting from his likeness without giving him a cut (which is legally called right to publicity, which allows a public figure to control his or her likeness and how said likeness will be used). Stallone had even written a part for Chuck for his second Rocky film, according to Wepner, which, after he had auditioned with Sylvester, the part was inexplicably cut out of the film altogether. Chuck also discusses his fight with Muhammad Ali. What was kind of eyebrow-raising for me about what he says about his fight with Ali--though not really surprising--was when they were doing publicity for the fight and they appeared on one talk show and, according to Wepner, Ali approached him before the show and "encouraged" him to call him The N Word  during the show in order to cause controversy and "pump up" the fight. When Wepner refused, citing his "black" friendships and his sparring partners who were African-American, Ali went on the show and told the host how Chuck had called him--you guessed it!--The N Word along with other racial epithets. What got to me about this was that Ali fashioned himself as some sort of civil rights icon and here he goes, at least if you believe Wepner's account of what happened, and actually tries to "encourage" a white guy to call him The N Word (which Chuck actually uses himself while discussing the incident, so there you go). I admit, I'm not the biggest sports fan, though boxing is an exception, at least a minor one, and The Real Rocky would certainly be an interesting film for fans of the sport. A footnote: Another thing that got to me about the documentary was how it stated at the end of the film how Sylvester Stallone was actually inducted into the Boxing Hall Of Fame while Chuck Wepner, who was at one time ranked 8th best boxer in the world, has never been. Go figure!