Wepner, previously uncredited, sued for compensation for his part in inspiring the Rocky franchise.

The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2006.

It gave Wepner the right to say he was officially the man the film was based on, and the chance to make a film about his own life without legal reprisals.

It was duly released in 2016.

"The most moving thing about Chuck's story is not the Rocky part, it's how he took on everything that came at him," said actor Liev Schreiber, who played Wepner in Chuck.

"He fought his own demons that were harder than any of those great heavyweights he fought. And he won because of his tenacity and his heart.

"Every time Ali hit him in the mouth with that incredible jab, he seemed to get happier. You can't kill a man like that. That was Chuck's indomitable spirit.

"That was the story that spoke to me, and that's why I wanted to make his film."

Captured on screen, it has taken Wepner longer to be immortalised in bronze.

Long-time friend Bruce Dillin - owner of Bayonne's Dillin Tires, a car garage with a cluttered waiting room that serves as the unofficial Chuck Wepner museum - is one of the committed few to fight his corner.

Under portraits of the Bayonne Bleeder, press clippings and a framed pair of boxing shorts that Dillin admits Wepner most likely never actually wore, the garage owner reveals the idea of the statue originally started as a joke.

"Chuck was presenting me with a community award in front of all these local dignitaries. And I knew he was going to make a joke about me so I made a joke about him," he says.

"I said: 'Bayonne has announced today the erection of a statue of Chuck Wepner in front of City Hall to recognise his role as the real-life Rocky.'

"So people got up and started clapping. And then I added: 'And this marks the first time in 20 years the words erection and Wepner have been used in the same sentence!' People were laughing and cheering, but then everyone's coming up to me saying: 'Is it true about the statue, is it true?'"

It struck Dillin at this moment that a statue to immortalise his friend not only had widespread support, but was long overdue.

After all, a statue of Sylvester Stallone's character had been given pride of place at the top the steps of Philadelphia's Museum of Art since 1980.

More than two decades and countless fundraisers later, finally the real-life Rocky has been given the same honour as his fictional persona.

Not that Wepner is bitter.

"I was proud of the fact that they put up a statue of Sylvester. He deserved it. And it's a beautiful statue. I mean, my statue is big, but his? It dwarfs mine," he says.

"I heard they paid $350,000 for the Rocky statue. This one here costs a lot less, but's it's just great as far as I'm concerned."


Wepner (right) announced his lawsuit against Stallone at a press conference in 2003, posing in front of a picture of himself with the film star