Chuck Wepner: Real Life Rocky Deserves More Than Sylvester Stallone Gave Him

Former low-level boxer Chuck Wepner has become the talk of the sports world for much of this week, thanks to ESPN building a one-hour feature around him and his life. As we found out in The Real Rocky, the 72-year-old deserved a lot better fate than he was given.

For those who are unaware, Wepner is the (uncredited) inspiration for the Rocky Balboa character. Sylvester Stallone was inspired to write a movie about a down-on-his-luck underdog boxer after seeing the New Jersey native shock the world by going 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali.

The only problem is Stallone never gave Wepner a dime for his role in the creation of the character that made him a household name. He is still raking in money from the Rocky films, but refuses to acknowledge that Wepner had anything to do with it.

According to Scott Tobias, who reviewed the film for The A.V. Club, Stallone comes out of this whole dirt scenario looking like the evil Apollo Creed character.

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Sly doesn’t come out well in this movie. Footage of Stallone crediting Wepner as the inspiration for Rocky isn’t exactly hard to find, yet he still issues a blanket denial when questioned for the lawsuit. Just throw the guy a bone, for Pete’s sake.

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Perhaps Stallone had a very good reason for treating Wepner the way he did, which is to say he barely acknowledges his very existence. But to vehemently deny that this man had nothing to do with the character when it is so blatantly obvious is wrong.

Wepner may not have inspired every minute detail of the Rocky Balboa character, but the story of the first film is his and he has a right to have his name included in the credits and a cut of the profits.

This film was a fascinating look at a man whose own life was filled with heartache and pain, but it was also a call to arms of sorts. Anyone who has ever been inspired by the Rocky films, or even watched them, owes Wepner a debt of gratitude.

That may not sound like much, but considering how much he has been screwed over by Stallone it probably means more than we will ever know.