1939-02-26

Charles Wepner (born February 26, 1939) is an American former professional boxer. He fell just nineteen seconds short of a full fifteen rounds against world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a 1975 championship fight. Wepner also scored notable wins over Randy Neumann and former world heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell. He was also the last man to fight former undisputed world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. Wepner's boxing career, and fight with Ali after, inspired the 1976 film Rocky, and other life events were chronicled in the 2016 film, Chuck. He was also the subject of the 2019 film The Brawler.