Were people angry when Ali gave Chuck Wepner a shot at the HW title?

From what I know the answer is No. Ali had just regained the titlle from Foreman had 2 fights with both Frazier and Norton, so Wepner was viewed as an easy opponent, but since Ali was fighting tough competition, he deserved an easy opponent for his first title defnse.

 

No they weren't You have to remember that Ali fought everyone so it wasn't like people thought he was ducking someone. Because champs and, Ali specifically, fought more back then, there was always a mix of great opponents and top ten to fifteen types on an ATG's resume.

 

As GoldenHulk mentioned, he had come off Foreman, Frazier, and Norton twice. I guess the public felt he had deserved it, of course I guarantee you some of the media gave him some flack for it.

 

I'm trying to remember the chronology without looking. His three previous fights were Foreman, Frazier, and Norton. He deserved an "easy" fight. I should add Wepner would have fought Foreman if he beat Ali.

 

I checked and Ali had Rudi Lubbers in between Norton and Frazier. As much as Wepner is maligned, he was on the best run of his career before he met Ali. He was undefeated for more than three years and among those victories was a win over an admittedly aging Ernie Terrell.

 

Wasn't the Lubbers fight a decision. It was a desultory performance by Ali. He fought the lightly regarded Jean Pierre Coopman after the Hell that was Manila. Coopman kissed Ali before the fight and was swallowing the champagne his corner gave him to rinse out his mouth between rounds. Bugner kissed Ali too but that was long after their careers had ended. After their first fight in Vegas Bugner was so elated he went to hug Ali and his trainer pulled him away.

 

Funny thing about the Lubbers fight. Ali won every round on two of the three judges scorecards but, as you said, desultory was a great way to describe the fight. Ali was so much better that he won easily but he was listless and fought an uninspired fight.

 

I don't follow the modern scene closely. Why isn't Usyk-Fury happening?

 

LOL, that is a question for the ages. You would think the two of them fighting for the unified, undisputed heavyweight championship of the world would make them both a lot of money and they would jump at the chance to fight. That is not the case. There is a lot of he said / he said as far as blaming each other for the impasse and if you ask fight fans most will say it's Fury's fault but there are a fair amount who put the onus on Usyk.

My personal guess, with no proof whatsoever, is that Fury is at fault. He is erratic in his actions and inconsistent in his statements.

 

I coincidentally watched the Coopman fight recently.

The commentators raved positively about Ali a bit, entering the zone of gushing - like no other fighter, his mere presence generated enthusiasm notwithstanding his conditioning or lack of effort.

If nothing else, it was a showcase of what Ali had left without duress from the opponent at hand - though Coopman did try hard. Ali appeared quite happy with himself after fight.

I believe Ali was on good terms with and liked Coopman - apparently not wanting to inflict unnecessary harm though Ali ramped it up a bit when gunning for the KO - but did check on him after the fight finished.

 

I agree. Based on the he said/he said and perhaps more importantly, taking on the broader landscape and context surrounding Fury professionally and personally, I would think Tyson holds most of the blame.

 

Actually, Chuck Wepner was originally penciled in to face George Foreman for the title. Foreman was expected to beat Ali and Don King had Wepner lined up to fight Foreman. But Ali upset Foreman. So Wepner wasn't completely unexpected when his name appeared as the challenger in Ali's first defense.

King promoted the Rumble in the Jungle. He wanted to continue promoting Ali fights. So King offered Ali close to two million to face Chuck in Cleveland, King's hometown. Wepner wasn't making much compared to Ali (the purse split was like 95-5 in Ali's favor), so Chuck was ideal. King didn't have a lot of money on his own. According to Bob Arum, King had to go to members of the Cleveland mafia to get the money to pay Ali. (In the newspapers, the guy financing it was a local Cleveland car dealer, or someone like that. Can't recall.)

King packaged Ali-Wepner on closed circuit with an opening bout at a second location featuring Ken Norton vs. Jerry Quarry (from Madison Square Garden). So it was a nice doubleheader. Originally the doubleheader was supposed to be Norton vs. Oscar Bonavena, but that fell through. Then it was going to be Norton-Jimmy Young, who'd just beaten Lyle. But nobody knew who Young was. So Quarry was offered the fight.

https://i.etsystatic.com/19012340/r/il/1d21c3/4640191272/il_794xN.4640191272_89w0.jpg

Ron Lyle, who would be Ali's second defense, was actually met with more criticism than Wepner was because Lyle was coming off a loss in February (to Young) and Lyle got a title shot three months later.

Lyle was viewed as so unworthy that his title fight with Ali aired on free, national television. All of Ali's other fights in 1975 were closed circuit.

 

The WBC briefly threatened to strip Ali of the title if he went ahead with the Wepner fight. They backed down quickly enough, of course.

 

Wepner was Ring ranked no 10 .
Neither Chisora or is other guy have / had a ranking.
Ali defended against everybody who deserved a shot. Fury is a B Shitting ducker