On March 24, 1975, a journeyman club fighter affectionately known as the “Bayonne Bleeder” knocked down Muhammad Ali and inspired one of the greatest characters of American cinema.
Chuck Wepner, “The Real Rocky” who hails from Bayonne, NJ, has become a mythological boxing figure. Having taken on everyone from Sonny Liston to Andre the Giant, he is currently the subject of an ESPN film, and a hollywood biopic starring Liev Shrieber and Naomi Watts.
Now you can own this limited edition signed lithograph or poster of Wepner’s fight with Ali, captured beautifully by reknowned artist Paul Lempa.
About the artist
Born in Bayonne, NJ in 1970, Paul Lempa is a self-taught artist who breathes new life into athletes whose images have been woven into the fabric of our nation. In the past 3 years, his sports art has been seen in museums, juried shows, national publications and featured on Topps baseball cards. The June 2011 issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly called Lempa one of the "TOP 12 Artists to Collect" and his Satchel Paige & Hank Greenberg paintings currently resides at the National Art Museum of Sport in Indianapolis.
Rocky Balboa has a statue with boxing gloves raised in the air on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Now it may be time for Chuck Wepner, 72, the boxer who inspired the movie character, to have his own 8-foot-tall bronze statue at the bottom of the staircase in Stephen R. Gregg-Bayonne County Park where he used to train. Bayonne businessman and lifelong friend Bruce Dillon is leading a campaign to have Wepner's statue placed at the staircase.
