BoxRec

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Former heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner has ended his bid to get compensation from Sylvester Stallone for using Wepner as inspiration for his "Rocky" movies.

Lawyers for both sides filed notice in U.S. District Court last week that they have settled the 2003 lawsuit for undisclosed terms.

Wepner had maintained that although he was the inspiration for Stallone's "Rocky Balboa" character, Stallone never made good on promises that he would get payment.

Wepner claimed that Stallone improperly used his name to promote the "Rocky" films, while Stallone countered that Wepner had already benefited by making public appearances as "the real Rocky."

Stallone has said that he had been working on a screenplay about a fighter when he watched Wepner, improbably, nearly go the distance with heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in 1975.

"What I saw was pretty extraordinary," Stallone said during a 2001 interview that became part of a "Rocky" anniversary DVD. "I saw a man they call 'the Bayonne Bleeder' who didn't have a chance at all against the greatest fighting machine supposedly that ever lived."

"Rocky," which won the 1976 Academy Award for best picture, was the story of a down-and-out club fighter from Philadelphia who got a longshot chance at boxing's heavyweight title when reigning champ Apollo Creed was looking for a patsy for his Bicentennial fight. Stallone played Rocky Balboa, who trained at a meat-cutting plant and nearly dethroned the champ.

Stallone is now working on "Rocky Balboa," the sixth film in the series.

Wepner, now 67, was a New Jersey club fighter who got his nickname from the damage he was prone to receive even while winning. He was plucked from obscurity by boxing promoter Don King, who offered him a title shot against George Foreman, who was the reigning heavyweight champ. But when Ali defeated Foreman, Wepner got the match with Ali.

Wepner knocked Ali to the canvas in the ninth round before losing by technical knockout 19 seconds before the final bell.