Sport: In Stitches

For eleven years, Chuck Wepner was a moonlight boxer. Once a night-shift security guard, he switched after 1970 to a routine of road work in the morning, selling liquor during the day in eastern New Jersey, and sparring at night in the sweaty clubs of his home town, Bayonne, N.J. After 41 fights, Wepner was hardly a superstar heavyweight; he had an unspectacular 30-9-2 record and ranked eighth on Ring magazine's list. Dubbed "the Bayonne Bleeder" because of the more than 300 stitches he had accumulated in the easy-to-open skin above his eyes, Wepner was an implausible opponent for...