Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner was a professional boxing match contested on March 24, 1975, for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

[3]Red Smith of The New York Times reported on financing of the fight, "Don King induced a Cleveland tycoon named Carl Lombardo to underwrite the show for $1.3‐million.

Video Techniques had snatched the champion out of Top Rank's clutches but now had a mismatch in a cornfield; a million‐dollar turkey in a 5 and 10 cent store.

[citation needed] Ali would go on to donate 50 cents of each ticket sold for the closed circuit television coverage of the fight to help the drought stricken Sahel region of West Africa.

[12] On the day of the fight Wepner presented a "very sexy" blue negligee to his wife and told her to wear it that night in bed since she would be sleeping with the heavyweight champion of the world.

"[13][14] Ali controlled most of the fight with Wepner, using his superior speed and boxing skills to mostly neutralize the challenger's offense.

"[3] Ali would later complain that Wepner had thrown "rabbit punches"—punches on the back of the head—on him, and had expressed his displeasure that Tony Perez, the referee, allowed the usage of this tactic.

A major surprise came in the 9th round when Wepner scored a knockdown, after landing a body shot on the champion while stepping forward.

Ali would later dispute the official knockdown, claiming that Wepner had stepped on his foot and then pushed him, causing him to lose his balance and fall.

"[3] Ali went on to punish Wepner for the remaining five rounds, opening cuts on his face and causing his eyes to swell up.

He attempted to rise and beat the count, but the fight was stopped by referee Tony Perez upon seeing the challenger's poor condition.

Stallone would later rush home after the fight and in less than four days of near constant writing, had completed his screenplay about an underdog fighter who gets a shot at the heavyweight title.

Stallone would later describe his experience watching the fight and how it contributed to his eventual creation:Chuck Wepner, a battling, bruising club fighter who had never made the big time, was having his shot.

The case was settled out of court, with Wepner receiving an undisclosed amount of money and the right to claim he was the inspiration for the film.

The most notable of which include the 2012 ESPN television special The Real Rocky,[22] and the biographical films Chuck and The Brawler, released in 2016 and 2019 respectively.