Biography

Wepner, a professional boxer, gained a following in the Bayonne, New Jersey, area, after never having been knocked down in more than 130 fights. Boxing promoter Don King heard about him and set up a championship match in 1975 between Wepner and champ Muhammad Ali, figuring Wepner would be not much more than a sparring partner for Ali, who would knock him out after a few rounds. To everyone's surprise, Wepner not only made it into the 15th round but actually floored Ali with one punch in the ninth round. Ali came back, however, and TKO'd Wepner at 2:41 of the 15th round, thus ending Wepner's no-knockdown string. As Wepner got up, stumbling against the ropes, the referee stopped the fight, giving Ali the TKO. Actor Sylvester Stallone saw the fight and was so impressed with Wepner that he began to write a script about it, which eventually became "Rocky".

Fought heavyweight champions Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Ernie Terrell and Muhammad Ali.

Scored upset wins over Forrest Ward, Manuel Ramos and Ernie Terrell to earn a top 10 heavyweight ranking.

Defeated Randy Neuman for the New Jersey heavyweight title and Ernie Terrell for the United States heavyweight title.

He was inducted into the 2016 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Sports category.