No Mas x “The Real Rocky” Chuck Wepner

At No Mas , we tell stories trough garments. We had the opportunity to work with “The Real Rocky” aka Chuck Wepner and you got to love it.

Before his unlikely 1975 heavyweight title fight against Muhammad Ali, Chuck Wepner was the quintessential journeyman heavyweight, best known for a capacity to take spectacular punishment that had earned him the nickname “The Bayonne Bleeder.” Don King’s tagline for Ali-Wepner—“Give the White Guy a Break”—made clear it was it was supposed to be more show than fight. The finances made it clearer who was the star: Ali’s purse was $1.5 million, Wepner’s $100,000. That was still was enough to give Wepner his first ever chance to train full-time, and after eight weeks in the Catskills, the ex-marine was ready when the bell rung. He went to-to-toe with the champ all night, knocking Ali down once in the ninth and falling only 19 seconds short of going the distance.

If this story of a working-class palooka getting a once-in-a-lifetime shot against a flamboyant champ sounds awfully familiar, it’s because Wepner’s story made a deep impression on a struggling New York actor named Sylvester Stallone. “Rocky” went on to win an Academy Award and spawn five sequels. Wepner all but vanished into obscurity without so much as a royalty check to keep him company. But with an ESPN documentary set for release and a feature film in the works, “The Real Rocky” is finally getting his long-deserved close-up. In celebration, we present this replica of the t-shirt Wepner wore to train full-time for the first and last time. Get it here