From the Associated Press

LOS ANGELES–A $50,000 reward was announced Wednesday for information that helps solve the 1970s murder of Howard Steindler, a flamboyant boxing manager and gym owner who helped inspire the character of Mickey in the “Rocky” movies.

Steindler was forced into his gold Cadillac Seville on March 9, 1977, a block from his Encino home. Police said the car may have been rear-ended by robbers who kidnapped him when he pulled over.

Witnesses said they saw Steindler arguing with two men who punched him several times and put him in the car.

The car was later found on the Ventura Freeway with Steindler inside. He had been beaten, robbed and smothered.

More than 1,000 people attended his funeral. Boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson delivered the eulogy.

His daughter said her 72-year-old father might have been killed while resisting the robbers.

“Maybe it went further than it should have gone because he fought back so hard,” Carol Steindler Ferris of Thousand Oaks said in a telephone interview.

Steindler’s jewelry, including a diamond-and-gold ring in the shape of a boxing glove, was never found. But after his death, someone mailed his car keys and wallet to his widow.