George Chuvalo: No One Ever Knocked Him Down

If you have been reading article from my series on the Golden Age Heavyweights, the name George Chuvalo has come up repeatedly. The Canadian heavyweight contender enjoyed a reasonably successful career from the mid 1950s to the late 1970s, establishing a solid reputation in his prime for rugged determination. Chuvalo was tough. When you look at Canadian athletes, you see rugged hockey players and big wrestlers, people for whom taking a beating is just part of the job. Chuvalo stands head and shoulders above them all. He had a granite chin, an iron will, and a durable frame that made him the single toughest Cannuck that ever lived. He was never been knocked off his feet in a professional career that spanned 93 bouts, and including fights with some of the greatest names in boxing history.

Chuvalo was the son of Croatian immigrants, born in Toronto in 1937. He was introduced to boxing at the Earlscourt Athletic Club, and rose to become Canada's amateur heavyweight champion in 1955. Chuvalo's amateur career set a new record in Canada - when he turned pro, it stood at 16-0, all by knockout. He turned pro in 1956, aged 19. He fought mostly in Canada, climbing slowly through the heavyweight ranks, learning his trade in an on-the-job fashion. He did not have a fight with a "name" opponent until January 1964 when he met Zora Foley in Cleveland. By then, Chuvalo was 27 and had a record of 25-7-2. As a fighter, Chuvalo was a big, strong heavyweight, standing 6'0" and weighing in at approximately 212lbs in his prime. He had a good punch, but he could take a punch arguably better than any other fighter in history. However, he was also slow, plodding, and therefore easy to outbox. This is exactly what Foley did, winning a lopsided decision.

Contender

Chuvalo rebounded from the loss in October, meeting Doug Jones. Jones had met Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) in a bout that won Fight of the Year honors only the year before, but Chuvalo scored a decisive 11th Round TKO over him, and was leading on two scorecards when the fight was stopped. The victory over Jones more than counter-balanced the loss to Foley, and established Chuvalo as a top contender.

It was a good enough win to get him a bout with former two-time champion Floyd Patterson four months later, in what would be 1965's Fight of the Year (the only time Chuvalo was so honored). Chuvalo kept coming forward, landing right-hand bombs on Patterson, who in turn hung on with his crafty defense and matched Chuvalo's strength and power with his superior handspeed. It was a close fight (the scorecards read 6-5-1, 8-4, 7-5) with Patterson winning a close, but unanimous decision.

Chuvalo had taken on three of the world's best heavyweights and fought three bouts with lesser opponents in only 13 months. Most fighters would take it easy for a bit, but not the tough "Boom Boom" Chuvalo. He was soon back in the ring, put together four knockout victories over journeymen, and then met the champion Ernie Terrell in November 1965 (although Terrell held the WBA's title, the recognized champion at the time was Muhammad Ali). Terrell was a tall, skinny heavyweight, standing 6'6" and weighing 206lbs for that fight. He used his reach and the infamous, boring "jab and grab" style of boxing to outpoint and defeat Chuvalo.

In 1966, Chuvalo met Muhammad Ali in Toronto in a bout that by all rights should not have happened. Chuvalo traveled to London earlier that year and met an Argentine nobody named Corletti, and lost on points. That should have put him out of the title picture, but instead it put him in the right place at the right time. Muhammad Ali's negotiations with Ernie Terrell for a unification fight had stalled, so Ali went to Toronto and fought Chuvalo instead. It should have been a shot at the world title, except that Ali was already in trouble for his association with the Nation of Islam, and that plus the situation with the proposed Terrell fight blocked getting the Chuvalo fight recognized as such. Technically, Ali vs. Chuvalo I was a non-title bout, although many consider it to have been one. The result was a one-sided defeat for Chuvalo, as the great Ali was too quick in hand and foot for him. However, Ali failed to hurt or even deter the tough Cannuck, who kept coming forward and impressed everyone with his doggedness. Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee said "He never stopped coming on. You've got to admire a man like that."

Gatekeeper

Following the loss to Ali, Chuvalo fought another Argentine, rising 20-2 contender Oscar Bonavena. Bonavena had the reputation of being a brawler, but when faced with the rugged Chuvalo, he opted to box instead, and even so barely eeked out a majority decision win. This loss marked Chuvalo's 6th loss in 7 big fights (although the losses to Bonavena and Patterson had been close). Although still considered a top heavyweight for several years, Chuvalo ceased to be looked at as a real contender for the title and increasingly became the division's main "gatekeeper," or the guy you have to beat to be taken seriously. Rising and comebacking contenders would typically find that being taken seriously meant getting over Chuvalo. However, after losing so many big fights Chuvalo had to go back to the drawing board, and over the next year he won 12 knockouts over lesser opposition, building up a statistical winning streak and re-establishing his viability for a big fight.

That came in 1967, when he met a young 16-0 Philadelphia fighter named Joe Frazier. It was an action-packed bout between two men who had only one gear: forward. Frazier, however, was every bit as iron-willed as Chuvalo and banged much, much harder. Typically in a fight between two punchers, it is usually the guy who catches best who wins, but Frazier was a whole league above Chuvalo, hammering the Canadian into submission with his left hook. Amazingly, Chuvalo did not fall to Frazier's onslaught; instead, he doggedly stayed on his feet, took a torrent of punishment, and the referee had to step in and stop the fight in the 4th Round.

1969 brought Chuvalo two big fights, one win and one loss. First he was matched with the ever-overweight Buster Mathis. Although Mathis liked to eat and didn't like to train, and always showed up on fight night resembling a blimp, he was still a skilled boxer and at the time his only loss had been to Joe Frazier. Mathis put his skills to work earning a clean points victory over the plodding Chuvalo, and in the process earning a title shot against WBA king Jimmy Ellis. Later that year he met fellow Great White Hope "Irish" Jerry Quarry. Unlike a lot of Chuvalo's opponents, Quarry came to fight. While smaller than Chuvalo, who outweighed his opponent by 16 pounds, Quarry was no slouch in the power or toughness department, and had all the skills Chuvalo lacked. Mixing boxing with vicious counterpunching, Quarry busted up Chuvalo and was way ahead on points when Chuvalo came out in an all-or-nothing assault in the 7th Round and clubbed Quarry to the canvas. Quarry was soon up and resting on one knee, but foolishly waited until the count of 10 to rise and got up a beat too late. Quarry was counted out, giving Chuvalo his first big win in five years.

George Chuvalo then went on to meet George Foreman in 1970. A slow, plodding guy who always came forward like Chuvalo was tailor-made for Foreman, who used Chuvalo for target practice, teeing off on him with heavily-loaded bombs. Foreman caught and staggered Chuvalo in the 3rd Round and then poured on the fury; Chuvalo covered up against the ropes while his head cleared, with most of Foreman's monsterous punches hitting or bouncing off Chuvalo's arms. Foreman was rapidly tiring, but because Chuvalo wasn't fighting back the referee stepped in to stop the fight. It says a lot about how clear Chuvalo's head was at the time of the stoppage when, ever the tough guy, he told the referee "What are you, nuts?" How would heavyweight history have been if the referee had not stopped the fight, or if Chuvalo sensing he needed to do something had spun off the ropes and gotten away? Foreman later admitted that he punched himself out trying to finish Chuvalo. Famous for his stamina, Chuvalo could have rebounded and taken the fight to an exhausted George Foreman, beating him and thus there would have been no upset with Joe Fraizer in Jamaica, and no Rumble in the Jungle with Ali. As it is, Chuvalo had faced one of the most fearsome punchers in history and come out on his feet.

After Foreman, Chuvalo kept fighting. He had two big fights against Jimmy Ellis in 1971 and Muhammad Ali in 1972, losing on points both times. He continued to box through 1973, hung up the gloves, and then made a brief comeback in 1977-78. He then retired again at the age of 41, with a record of 73-18-2 (64 KOs).

Post-Career

It is worth asking why, if George Chuvalo lost most of his big fights, is he so highly thought of? Foremost was his granite chin. Chuvalo fought Muhammad Ali twice, Joe Frazier and George Foreman and was never knocked down. Interestingly, although as a Canadian he was eligible to challenge Henry Cooper for the British Commonwealth title, Cooper practically built his career on ducking Chuvalo. He had to settle for holding the Canadian heavyweight title instead. Finally, it has to be said that pro boxing is, like all other professional sports, in the end about putting butts in the seats. Like modern lightweight and welterweight contender Arturo Gatti, you can build a big reputation off of being very durable in the ring and putting on a good show, even if you don't win so many big fights. Chuvalo did exactly that; if nothing else, most fights with George "Boom Boom" Chuvalo in them were anything but dull, and it was never his fault if they were. Chuvalo came into the ring looking to win by coming forward, and was always happy to trade punches. Win or lose, people pay to see that.

Chuvalo's life outside the ring was marked by tragedy. Two of his sons died of drug overdoses, and both a third son and his wife committed suicide. His remaining son is still alive, however, and is a teacher in Toronto. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Ottawa Senators goalie Ray Emery wears Chuvalo's faced painted on his mask as a tribute to the toughest man his country ever produced.