George Chuvalo, the charismatic five-time Canadian heavyweight boxing champion who went the distance with Muhammad Ali twice and who was never knocked off his feet in 93 professional fights, died on Saturday, his 89th birthday.
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who → go → Saturday
The beefy, iron-jawed son of Croatian immigrants is generally acknowledged as one of the toughest men to have ever entered the squared circle.
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son → acknowledge → circle
He spent his last years at the Chartwell Grenadier Retirement Residence in Toronto suffering from dementia after a career of head blows absorbed at the hands of some of the sport’s hardest punchers, among them knockout specialist George Foreman and Joe Frazier, who partly dislodged Mr. Chuvalo’s right eyeball from its socket at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1967.
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who → spend → 1967
To the world, Mr. Chuvalo represented the quintessential hard-rock, indefatigable Canadian pugilist.
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Chuvalo → represent → pugilist
“You were a tough guy,” said boxing trainer and television personality Russ Anber.
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Anber → say → ?
“You weren’t necessarily going to win, but you were going to hang in there with anybody in the world and you were going to give fans their money’s worth.
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you → go → worth
The bull-necked Torontonian inflicted and endured pain inside the ring while experiencing profound tragedy outside it.
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Torontonian → inflict → it
Once the father of five children, he lost one son and his first wife, Lynne Chuvalo, to suicide.
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he → lose → suicide
Two more sons died of heroin overdoses.
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sons → die → overdoses
“It was tough watching him go through those losses,” said Charles (Spider) Jones, a broadcasting partner of Mr. Chuvalo’s and a longtime friend.
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Jones → watch → Chuvalo
“He broke down and cried many times.
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He → break → ?
But he just continued on.”
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he → continue → ?
Mr. Chuvalo was a stout, lionhearted athlete with more boxing skills than his reputation as a brawler would suggest.
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reputation → suggest → brawler
He was also unjustly but unavoidably defined by his losses.
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He → define → losses
He had been scheduled to fight World Boxing Association (WBA) champion Ernie Terrell in Chicago, but after he refused to serve in the U.S. Army at a time when the country was involved in the Vietnam War – “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong,” Mr. Ali famously declared – the boxing commissions of Illinois and other states refused to sanction the bout.
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commissions → schedule → bout
The match eventually landed at Harold Ballard’s hockey arena.
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match → land → arena
When Mr. Terrell pulled out 17 days before it was scheduled to take place, Mr. Chuvalo stepped in.
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Chuvalo → pull → place
Because of the political implications, the fight drew worldwide attention.
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fight → draw → attention
That a white, Canadian underdog from working-class Toronto was competing for the most glorious boxing title in the world made the narrative all the more compelling.
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narrative → compete → world
Globe and Mail photographer Boris Spremo recalled the fight on its 50th anniversary in 2016: “The whole city was jumping up for George.
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city → recall → George
It was pandemonium, people yelling and screaming.
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people → yell → ?
This was a real-life Rocky match, a full decade before Sylvester Stallone’s classic boxing film was made.
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film → make → ?
“George was a no-hoper, a local hero in as a sacrifice, but he battled nobly,” said sports journalist Stephen Brunt, who wrote the 2003 National Film Board documentary The Last Round: Chuvalo vs. Ali.
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who → battle → Ali
“Nobody in history would have defeated Muhammad Ali in 1966.
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Nobody → defeat → 1966
I don’t think even Joe Louis would have beaten him.
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Louis → think → him
And George didn’t either, but he never backed up.
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he → back → ?
For his efforts, Mr. Chuvalo was paid $49,000 but pocketed just $12,500 after the deduction of taxes and management fees.
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Chuvalo → pay → taxes
Still, even in defeat, Mr. Chuvalo boosted a nation’s self-esteem.
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Chuvalo → boost → esteem
“In a crazy way, that fight is what defines me for a lot of my fellow Canadians, but it took a long time before I came to appreciate how good it made them feel,” he wrote in his 2013 autobiography Chuvalo: A Fighter’s Life.
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he → define → autobiography
“It happened almost 50 years ago, but I still hear it all the time, that it made Canadians proud.”
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Canadians → happen → it
Mr. Chuvalo was 28 years old and a decade into his prize-fighting career when he fought Mr. Ali at Maple Leaf Gardens.
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he → fight → Gardens
On April 23, 1956, the handsome 201-pound former Canadian amateur champion handily defeated four opponents to win a heavyweight tournament for novices.
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champion → defeat → novices
Boxing legend Jack Dempsey refereed the final bout.
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Dempsey → referee → bout
“There were lots of sportswriters in attendance, and Dempsey said some nice things about me, how he thought I had a big punch and a lot of potential, that kind of thing,” Mr. Chuvalo recalled in his memoir.
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Chuvalo → be → memoir
“It was all pretty exciting stuff for an 18-year-old kid, and the $500 in prize money made me feel like a millionaire.”
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me → make → millionaire
Three years later, also in Maple Leaf Gardens, he won the vacant Canadian heavyweight belt by knocking out James J. Parker in the first minutes of a scheduled 12-round fight.
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he → win → fight
In 1965, in advance of his important bout with former champion Floyd Patterson in New York’s boxing mecca, Madison Square Garden, Mr. Chuvalo was the subject of a Sports Illustrated cover story which depicted him as well-read fellow who “dabbles in Freud and Confucius and feels he is destined to be heavyweight champion.”
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he → depict → Freud
The destiny never materialized.
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destiny → materialize → ?
He lost a close decision to Mr. Patterson in what was declared the fight of year by The Ring magazine.
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what → lose → magazine
Despite the setback, the Canadian fought WBA title holder Mr. Terrell later that same year at Maple Leaf Gardens but lost a 15-round decision.
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Canadian → fight → decision
…and 71 more, not listed.
