Chuck Wepner reflects on Muhammad Ali match, 50 years later

It’s now gone, but on March 24, 1975, it hosted one of the most entertaining 15-round boxing matches you’ll ever see between the greatest of all-time Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner.

“My mindset was to win the fight,” Wepner told FOX 8’s John Sabol. “He [Ali] just came off the knockout of George Foreman to win the title. I thought he’d look pass me, take me for granted.”

For parts of that fight, Wepner was in control of the bout. 

“I chased him for the first four rounds,” Wepner said. “You look at the fight, the first four rounds, I don’t think he threw 20 punches. I was the aggressor. I threw most of the punches. By the ninth round, we figured we were winning the fight.”

The ninth round turned out to be the turning point.

“This one time he threw the left hand and I slipped under it, and I hit him with a real good right hand,” Wepner said. “I could feel it. Right up into my shoulder, the vibration. He was pulling away from the punch like he does a lot of time. That was his thing, slipping punches and pulling away. And he went down. He took the eight count and he almost went out of the ring.”

Had Ali fallen out of the ring in the 9th round, Wepner would’ve won the fight due to the 10-count being expired.

“But that didn’t happen that way,” Wepner said. “And he got up and the first thing to me was ‘boy, I got you now, sucka!’ He was mad because I think he was embarrassed as he was hurt.”

“It was the only time in history when Ali was the champion that he was down,” said Wepner. “I’m the only guy that ever dropped him when he was champion.”

There was a lot of controversy that Wepner stepped on Ali’s foot to cause the Champ to fall, but after all these years, Wepner insists he never stepped on Ali’s foot.

Wepner now chuckles at what happened next. Once he saw Ali on the ground, he turned to his manager Al Braverman and said…

“I had said ‘Al, start the car we’re going to the bank. We’re going to be millionaires.’ Because I turned around and he was still down,” Wepner laughed. “He was down until about six and then he scrambled back up. There were screaming for him, ‘get up, get up! Get up, Champ!”

Ali rose to his feet while Wepner was will still talking to his manager.

“Al said to me ‘Chuck, you better turn around. He’s getting up… And I said ‘Uh oh’. I knew he was really going to turn it up. And the last 30-40 seconds he must’ve threw 25-30 punches. Punches from all angles,” Wepner said.

A few of the punches connected with Wepner, with one being the match-clinching win. A punch to Wepner’s shoulder and glance to the side of his face in the 15th round. With his legs already weak, his body exhausted, Wepner went down. 

“I was exhausted, John, to be honest with you,” Wepner said. “Going into the 13th round, I could feel when I say down, my legs quivering. That’s one hour into the ring for 15 rounds.”

With just 19 seconds left in the final round, referee Tony Perez stopped the fight, noticing Wepner becoming visibly weak.

“I wish he hadn’t because I got up, wiped my gloves on his shirt and he said, ‘Chuck, I stopped it.’ I didn’t even hear him waive it off,” he said.