Canadian boxer George Chuvalo, who faced Muhammad Ali in his prime, dead at 89
asserted
who → face → 89
Chuvalo suffered from dementia late in life and had been residing in a long-term care facility in Toronto
George Chuvalo, the iron-chinned Canadian heavyweight who took the best punches from the giants of boxing without ever falling, has died.
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who → suffer → boxing
Chuvalo suffered from dementia late in life and had been residing in a long-term care facility in Toronto.
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Chuvalo → suffer → Toronto
He died Saturday according to multiple online posts by family and friends.
uncertain
He → die → family
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said the boxer was a family friend, shared condolences on social media Saturday.
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boxer → say → media
"My thoughts are with all of George's family and loved ones as we mourn his passing," he said.
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he → love → passing
Chuvalo went the distance with Muhammad Ali in bouts in Toronto and Vancouver, and absorbed the hardest shots sluggers Joe Frazier and George Foreman had to offer, without being knocked down.
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Frazier → go → shots
It was unfathomable family tragedy after he retired that brought him to his knees.
"If you added up every punch I took and multiplied the total by 10,000, it wouldn't begin to equal the pain of losing three sons and a wife to drugs and suicide," he said in his 2013 autobiography Chuvalo: A Fighter's Life, co-written with Murray Greig.
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he → retire → Greig
The son of Croatian immigrants was born Sept. 12, 1937, in Toronto's Junction neighbourhood.
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son → bear → neighbourhood
He became intrigued by boxing after seeing The Ring magazine at a newsstand.
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He → become → newsstand
Chuvalo was 10 years old the first time he stepped through the ropes, and a growth spurt combined with an interest in weightlifting saw him develop into a six-foot, 210-pound fighter.
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him → step → fighter
After a brief amateur career, he turned pro in 1956, winning notice for performances at the Jack Dempsey Tournament at Maple Leaf Gardens.
But by the early 1960s, Chuvalo's career had stagnated under ineffective guidance, until Toronto poultry magnate Irv Ungerman took over as his manager.
Chuvalo parlayed several wins into an attention-getting 11th-round stoppage over contender Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden in 1964.
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Chuvalo → turn → 1964
He returned to that mecca of boxing the next year, narrowly losing a decision to former champ Floyd Patterson in a bout The Ring named best of 1965.
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Ring → return → 1965
'He just keeps coming and coming'
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He → keep → ?
He moved forward with thudding blows from both hands to the head and body, producing stoppages in 88 per cent of his wins.
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He → move → wins
"You can't believe his strength," Canadian fighter Bill Drover once told a writer.
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Drover → believe → writer
He just keeps coming and coming.
asserted
He → come → ?
The only way you can stop him is with a stick of dynamite."
Chuvalo would always insist his defence was better than advertised, but it was his durability that was remarkable.
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that → stop → dynamite
He was able to absorb the shots, he said, thanks to a 17.5-inch neck strengthened through exercises.
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he → absorb → exercises
Chuvalo found himself fighting for the heavyweight title in 1966 as a replacement foe when Ali's affiliation with the Black Muslims and controversial anti-Vietnam-War stance made him a pariah in the U.S.
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him → find → U.S.
The challenger's prospects were described in a New York Times headline: Bettor's-Eye View of Chuvalo: A Big Bum With a Lot of Heart.
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prospects → describe → Heart
While Chuvalo failed to become Canada's first heavyweight champion since Tommy Burns in the early 1900s, he earned praise for a gritty performance.
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he → fail → performance
Ali famously called him the toughest man he had faced up to that point, but Chuvalo was ambivalent being the first to take the champ 15 rounds.
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Chuvalo → call → champ
"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 me feel," he said.
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he → define → time
Never knocked down
With wife Lynne and five children at home, Chuvalo appreciated the paydays the Ali performance begat.
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performance → knock → paydays
He would beat contenders Jerry Quarry and Manuel Ramos, losing close bouts to Oscar Bonavena and Jimmy Ellis.
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He → beat → Bonavena
Chuvalo was stopped for the first time in 1967 by Frazier, requiring a silicone implant to keep an eyeball from drooping.
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Chuvalo → stop → eyeball
The loss to Foreman in the fourth round three years later was also notable, with the referee stepping in before Chuvalo's "never knocked down" streak might have been ended.
uncertain
streak → step → round
He retired for good on a winning note six years later, finishing with a record of 73 wins, 18 losses and two draws, with 64 of his wins coming by knock out.
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64 → retire → out
Chuvalo was articulate and spoke in rapid-fire bursts, with a quip or self-deprecating joke usually at the ready.
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quip → speak → ready
But like many fighters, he had a tough time transitioning to the "humdrum" nature of life, as he once described it.
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he → have → it
At various points, he opened a nightclub, got his real estate licence, promoted fights, hosted a TV show and took cinema's worst ever arm-wrestling defeat in a cameo in David Cronenberg's The Fly.
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he → open → Fly
Chuvalo told CBC Radio in 1968 he didn't want his four sons boxing for a living, but it was outside the ring where he couldn't protect them.
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he → tell → them
The youngest, Jesse, became hooked on heroin after a prescription for pain medication ran out and was just 19 when he fatally shot himself in 1985.
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he → become → 1985
Older brothers George Jr. and Steven had by then also become users of the drug and involved in petty crime to feed their habits.
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brothers → become → habits
Steven Chuvalo described a feeling of "worthlessness" he and his two addicted brothers felt in an interview with CBC's the fifth estate in 1995.
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he → describe → 1995
"My dad spent quite a few years chasing us around the city, Georgie and I in particular, and dragging us out of drug houses and heroin houses and basically just trying to keep us alive," he said.
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he → spend → us
George Jr., three days sprung from jail in Kingston, Ont., overdosed on Halloween 1993.
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Jr. → spring → Halloween
Just four days after that, 49-year-old Lynne Chuvalo swallowed pills and left a suicide note.
"I never thought she'd do it, but I'm not surprised," Chuvalo told the New York Times a short time later, adding his wife never got over the first burial of a child.
Steven Chuvalo, who spoke on the fifth estate of wanting to make his father proud, would overdose and die eight months after that program aired.
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program → swallow → estate
Chuvalo would persevere, marrying again, and cherishing time spent with oldest son Mitch, daughter Vanessa, and his grandchildren.
asserted
Chuvalo → persevere → Mitch
…and 6 more, not listed.
