First off, it was a work. I have interviewed Chuck Wepner in the past and he admitted that despite fans believing it to be real it was all predetermined.Caractacus wrote: ↑24 Aug 2021, 13:06 Andre the Giant looks like he may be using some form of it against Chuck Wepner in 1976.
He was 7 ft tall but had a stocky build.I wonder who trained him for this fight ?
Secondly, this has been a subject talked about before on the forum over the years as to whether Andre Rousimoff either had training to be a boxer and/or how well he could have performed as a boxer.
The earliest interviews with him occasionally mentions that he boxed for a year, but there is no further information. Did he receive this training in France? Or was it some venture later down the road?
He certainly received enough combat sports training to have appeared as a "boss" in a karate movie in the late 1960s, and the gym where he received training to become a professional wrestler was also a place where many boxers trained as well.
So it's possible that he did receive some boxing training while still in France--- however, what I discovered was that when Andre went to Japan for the first time he came across Verne Gagne and the wrestling legend tried to convince him to become a boxer.
Why? Verne Gagne was not only a wrestling promoter (AWA) he also promoted boxing matches and had stake in the Bobick brothers and later Scott LeDoux. Verne had the funds, the resources, and the license to turn a colossus into a formidable heavyweight.
Andre turned this proposition down, but I tend to believe that when he finally came to North America working across Canada and later the United States territories that he did possibly test the waters behind closed doors receiving further training under the watchful eye of Verne Gagne to see whether boxing was possible.
As we all know he never did pursue a career in boxing, ultimately because the amount of money he was making as a professional wrestler was insane and he already was one of the most recognizable athletes in the world. It would make no financial sense to go into boxing.
Mind you this was the era in which many NFL and AFL players left football for professional wrestling because the money was better--- sure boxing then as now is the richest sport in the world, but when you do the figuring Andre The Giant was making $400,000 per year in the early 1970s which is like $2 million today.
Also, unlike boxing the careers of professional wrestlers are generally longer than boxers. Andre The Giant basically wrestled through three decades--- so if he ever was to do boxing it would have to be a "one-off" affair for a lot of money.
Then again the fake match with Wepner guaranteed him no embarrassment and a hefty payday so why do the real thing with boxers when you can stage a production?
That being said prior to his acromegalic condition progressing too far, and him living a lavish lifestyle where he drank and ate excessively, he had the athleticism to have been problematic especially in that time frame where many heavyweights were 190, 195, 200, 210, 215, 220 pounds.
