Chuck Page #4

in three rounds like I'm nothing.

Like I didn't belong there

in the first place.

I gotta show them, Phyll, you know?

I gotta show them I belong there.

Show who, Chuck? Who you gotta show?

You know, you know... Them.

Okay, "them."

Hey. Come here.

Come on, stop.

What?

I don't know, I just...

I don't wanna see you get hurt, Chuck.

I don't like seeing it.

I don't care about getting hurt.

I just gotta show them I belong, you know?

Go the distance.

Yeah.

Why are you here, spending

the kind of money that you did on tickets

to see Ali and Wepner?

Ali's a good fighter. He's the best.

Well, a lot of people think that

it's gonna be a quick fight.

I think it's gonna be a good one.

So, I got mixed emotions, but I'd

like to see Muhammad Ali win in five.

Well, I enjoy Muhammad Ali,

and, you know, that's the whole kit.

And I call him one of

the greatest performers there are.

Let's face it, nobody gave me

a chance in hell. But I didn't care.

For me to turn around and see Muhammad Ali

standing right there in front of me,

15 million people watching,

that was the best.

I'll never forget that feeling.

Bell rings, I rush forward

trying to be aggressive.

Ali's dancing around me talking.

Never stops talking.

He's saying, "Come on, whitey,

let's see what you got."

Couple of other choice words

I'd rather not mention.

Let's not forget one thing,

Ali does not dance like that for

seven or eight, nine rounds anymore.

He puts on these displays.

Wepner will look slow and awkward,

because he is slow and awkward,

but he does deliver a pretty good blow.

Finally, I get him on the ropes.

He's doing his rope-a-dope thing.

Bayonne, Chuck! Bayonne!

He doesn't give me much.

You know, I take what I can get.

Couple of kidney shots,

behind the head... You know, dirty.

To the best of my knowledge,

that was Muhammad Ali

that was unloading the illegal shots.

Shots to the head.

...if they do penalize him for it or not

is a big question.

But certainly, Muhammad Ali

was no more the winner of that round

than Chuck Wepner.

Ali clearly has a much more fluid motion,

much more ability.

It's clear that he's getting through

with the jab...

Bring your guard up.

There's a quick combination.

Another three, four punches

to the face of Wepner.

But Wepner not visibly shaken,

as he continues to come in.

This man does not back up.

What good was backing up gonna do?

Look, my thing was this.

I couldn't hit him, so I figured

I'd wear him down with my face.

It was working great for five

or six rounds until finally, boom.

Now it looks like Wepner

may possibly have a cut above the eye.

I think I see some red stuff

that might possibly be hair.

No, Wepner is cut above the eye.

Looks like a pretty good gash, too.

Come on!

Wepner holds his arm up and says,

"Come on, Champ,

is that the best you can do?"

Wepner's a tough kid.

There's no doubt about it.

I have tremendous respect

for the courage of this man.

Ali has no respect for his ability.

All I know is they all said

I was gonna be done in three rounds,

and now they're chanting my name.

Sure, he was beating the crap out

of me, but they loved it. They loved me.

Hey, John!

You hear that crowd, Chuck?

They love you, Chuck! They love you!

- Hey!

- What?

Look at me, you dumb f***. Focus!

Wepner not concerned with the left jab

at all, he just takes the punch.

Ali fakes the top part of his body back

and slips a punch to his left and...

Vicious shot to the ribs

of Muhammad Ali, and what a surprise!

Chuck Wepner gets to the body

of Muhammad Ali!

Chuck! Holy sh*t!

I was as shocked as anyone else.

I mean, my head was spinning.

I knew I hit him hard,

but to see him on his ass like that...

I saw myself as

the heavyweight champion of the world.

Didn't last, though. He got back up.

Boy, was he pissed.

Ali is now going to have to

get off his haunches and start the fight!

This is no joke! Ali was surprised!

Ali sat right down on his seat.

Now watch Ali go to work.

Ali is aggravated.

It looks like Wepner's in trouble now.

By the 12th round, he'd already closed

both my eyes, broke my nose,

and he was still dancing circles around me.

I didn't care.

I was just happy to be in the ring with him.

I don't remember much after that,

except trying to stay on my feet.

I could feel him hitting me.

No pain, just the thud of his fists.

Bone on bone.

Boom.

Boom.

Stay up, Chuck. Stay up.

Round 15, the heavyweight

championship of the world!

People are on their feet at the Coliseum.

They are seeing a better fight

than they thought that they were

going to see for their money.

Mohammed Ali wants to knock this man out.

Wepner does not want to go down.

There's a good combination,

Wepner's ready to go.

Ali comes on. Wepner is staggering,

he's out on his feet right now.

Ali has his man in trouble!

Wepner attempting to hang on viciously.

He's trying to hang on. He's out on his feet!

Ali clocks him!

A right hand and a left hook

drops Chuck Wepner!

Get up! Get up!

Five. Six. Seven. Eight.

The referee stops the fight!

It'll be scored as a technical knockout!

Muhammad Ali retains the heavyweight

championship of the world!

Nineteen seconds.

They stopped the fight with 19 seconds to go.

I didn't make it.

Funny thing is, nobody cared.

They threw me a party anyway.

AI says to me,

"Forget the bank, we need a fire hose

"'cause Ali's getting up

and his ass is burnin'!"

And what a reception for you in Bayonne.

Yeah, that was some party, huh?

You think there'll be a rematch, Chuck?

You and Ali, one more time?

Could be. Why not?

You know, unless he's too scared of me now.

In the meantime, Bob,

I'm just gonna enjoy myself.

Chuck, you look good.

And what do you do for enjoyment, Chuck?

Wine, women, and song, Bob.

Wine, women, and song.

Not necessarily in that order.

Okay.

Guess what I like first.

I'll leave that for the folks at home.

Getting back to the fight.

This photograph

is of the knockdown in round nine.

Come on.

Now, Ali says that's your foot

stepping on his foot.

And he said it threw him off-balance,

and that's why he went down.

Bullshit. Not even close.

I step on your foot, you goin' down,

you protest, wouldn't you?

Of course, that'd be the first thing

you do. You stand up and you say...

Referee calls it a knockdown

and it's in the books. It's a knockdown.

That's why there's a referee there.

- Daddy.

- Yeah, honey.

This guy's just trying to

make something, you know?

Daddy.

- Ali knows what happened.

- Oh, my God.

- Is that supposed to be me?

- Yeah.

Look at this.

Who is that, Bigfoot?

No, it's Daddy.

That's my girl.

I'll be right back.

- What are you doing?

- Just leave me alone.

Don't you wanna watch the show? It's still...

- You kidding me, Chuck?

- What?

What, "Wine, women, and song"? On television?

You know, it's bad enough

what you do on the streets, but on TV!

I said "woman," not women.

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