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George Chuvalo

 

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George Chuvalo



 
 
George Louis Chuvalo, CM
Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is Canada's highest civilian order and is the centrepiece of the Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada. Membership in the order is accorded to those who exemplify the order's Latin motto, taken from Epistle to the Hebrews 11:16, desiderantes meliorem patriam, meaning "They desire a better country."...
 (born September 12, 1937) is a retired Canadian heavyweight boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
 who was never knocked down in ninety-three professional fights between 1956 and 1979. He is often considered to have had the greatest chin in the history of boxing. He was Canadian heavyweight champion as both an amateur and a professional, and twice fought for versions of the professional world's heavyweight title.

in Toronto to Croatian
Croats

Croats are a South Slavs nation mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern Central Europe region, along the east bank of the Adriatic Sea and an estimated 9 million throughout the world....
 parents, Stephen and Katica.






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George Louis Chuvalo, CM
Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is Canada's highest civilian order and is the centrepiece of the Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada. Membership in the order is accorded to those who exemplify the order's Latin motto, taken from Epistle to the Hebrews 11:16, desiderantes meliorem patriam, meaning "They desire a better country."...
 (born September 12, 1937) is a retired Canadian heavyweight boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
 who was never knocked down in ninety-three professional fights between 1956 and 1979. He is often considered to have had the greatest chin in the history of boxing. He was Canadian heavyweight champion as both an amateur and a professional, and twice fought for versions of the professional world's heavyweight title.

Professional career

Born in Toronto to Croatian
Croats

Croats are a South Slavs nation mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern Central Europe region, along the east bank of the Adriatic Sea and an estimated 9 million throughout the world....
 parents, Stephen and Katica. Chuvalo grew up in The Junction
The Junction

The Junction, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that derives its name from two native trails which intersected in the area prior to European settlement....
 district of west Toronto, and had one sibling, Zora. While a student at Humberside Collegiate Institute
Humberside Collegiate Institute

Humberside Collegiate Institute is a public school high school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves the High Park North and The Junction neighbourhoods....
, he became one of the best-known amateur boxers in Toronto, fighting out of the Earlscourt Athletic Club. Chuvalo became Canadian amateur heavyweight champion in May 1955, defeating Winnipeg's Peter Piper with a first-round KO in a tournament final in Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina, Saskatchewan

Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan, Canada. The city is the second largest in the province , and is a cultural and commercial metropole for both southern Saskatchewan and adjacent areas in the neighbouring American states of North Dakota and Montana....
. Chuvalo finished his amateur career with a 16-0-0-0, all by KO within four rounds, a record.

Nicknamed "Boom Boom", Chuvalo turned professional in 1956, knocking out four opponents in one night to win a heavyweight tournament held by former world's champion Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey

Jack "Manassa Mauler" Dempsey was an United States boxing who held the List of heavyweight boxing champions from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history....
 at Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens

Maple Leaf Gardens is a former indoor arena in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District, Toronto....
 in Toronto on April 26, 1956.

As a pro, Chuvalo is best known for his two fights against Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is a retired United States boxing and former three-time List of heavyweight boxing champions.As an amateur, Ali won a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in the light heavyweight division gold medal....
. He went the distance both times, but lost by a wide margin on the scorecards. The first fight, on March 29, 1966 would have been for Ali's world title but for boxing politics that caused it to be staged as "a heavyweight showdown" instead. The fight was scheduled for and indeed went fifteen rounds, with the decision going to Ali. "He's the toughest guy I ever fought", said Ali of Chuvalo after the fight. Ali's cornerman, Angelo Dundee
Angelo Dundee

Angelo Merena , better known in the boxing world as Angelo Dundee, is a boxing cornerman who has worked with 15 world boxing champions, including Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jose Napoles, George Foreman, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio and Luis Rodriguez ....
, said, "He never stopped coming on ... you've got to admire a man like that." The second Ali fight was in 1972 and went twelve rounds, with Ali—between his world championship reigns—winning an easy decision. It was the last major fight of Chuvalo's career.

Future world champions Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier

Joseph William Frazier, known as Smokin' Joe, is a former Olympic and World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, active mostly from the later 1960s to the mid 1970s....
 and George Foreman
George Foreman

George Edward Foreman is an United States two-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, and entrepreneur.He is the oldest man ever to win a major heavyweight title when, at 45, he knocked out 26-year-old Michael Moorer in the 10th round....
, despite being big punchers, were unable to knock Chuvalo down, but they were the only fighters to stop him, scoring technical knockout (TKO)
Knockout

A knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving strike ....
 victories. Foreman—regarded as one of the hardest hitters in boxing history—mauled Chuvalo, bombing him with punch after punch. Yet, in his typical display of toughness, when the referee stopped the fight in the third round, Chuvalo said to him, "What are you, nuts?"

Chuvalo's biggest victories were a seventh-round knockout of contender Jerry Quarry
Jerry Quarry

"Irish" Jerry Quarry , nicknamed ?The Bellflower, California Bomber,? was an American heavyweight boxing....
 on December 12, 1969, and an eleventh-round knockout of contender Doug Jones on October 2, 1964. Chuvalo also defeated notable fighters such as Howard King, Bob Cleroux, Yvon Durelle, Willi Besmanoff, Mike DeJohn, Cleveland Williams, and Manuel Ramos. Chuvalo was the number one contender for the British Empire heavyweight title for many years but champion Henry Cooper
Henry Cooper (boxer)

Sir Henry Cooper Order of the British Empire, Order of St. Gregory the Great in South East London, is a retired England heavyweight boxing and was the British, European and Commonwealth of Nations heavyweight champion in 1970....
 did not fight him.

In addition to his losses to Ali, Frazier, and Foreman, Chuvalo also lost to former champion Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson was an American 2-time List of Heavyweight Champions. At 21, Patterson was then the youngest man to win the world heavyweight championship and, later, the 1st to regain it....
 in a bout that The Ring
The Ring (magazine)

The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication....
 named fight of the year
Ring Magazine fights of the year

Every year since 1945, The Ring magazine has named a fight as fight of the year, based on the magazine's writers' criteria. Here is a list of fights of the year as selected by The Ring:...
 for 1965. He lost to WBA
World Boxing Association

The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level....
 heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell
Ernie Terrell

Ernie Terrell is an United States singer, record producer, and former World Boxing Association List of heavyweight boxing champions.Terrell is the older brother of The Supremes's early 1970s lead singer Jean Terrell....
 in 1965 and to former WBA champion Jimmy Ellis
Jimmy Ellis

James Albert "Jimmy" Ellis is a boxing from Louisville, Kentucky. He held the World Boxing Association Heavyweight title from 1968 to 1970.As an amateur, he was trained by Joe Elsby Martin, Sr., at Louisville's Columbia Gym....
 in 1971, with both of those fights taking place at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Personal life

Chuvalo lost three sons, Steven Louis Chuvalo, Jesse Chuvalo and Georgie Lee Chuvalo, to drug overdoses. He lost his wife to suicide after the second son died. His remaining son, Mitch, became a teacher and married a woman from El Salvador with whom he is raising 2 boys. His daughter Vanessa has two girls, Adelayde and Michaella.

George is happily married to his second wife, Joanne Chuvalo, and is stepfather to her two children, Jesse and Ruby. George and his wife tour high schools speaking about the devastation of drug use to teens. They have a summer home in Midland, Ontario
Midland, Ontario

Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.Situated at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region, with a 125-bed hospital and a local airport....
.

Tributes and other appearances

Chuvalo was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame
World Boxing Hall of Fame

The World Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Riverside, California, United States, in Southern California. The WBHF is one of two recognized international boxing hall of fames, with the other being the International Boxing Hall of Fame, with the IBHOF being the more widely recognized institution....
 in 1997. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is Canada's highest civilian order and is the centrepiece of the Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada. Membership in the order is accorded to those who exemplify the order's Latin motto, taken from Epistle to the Hebrews 11:16, desiderantes meliorem patriam, meaning "They desire a better country."...
 in 1998 and was awarded a star on Canada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame

Canada's Walk of Fame, located in Toronto, Ontario, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians....
 in 2005.

Former Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League ....
 goalie Ray Emery
Ray Emery

Ray "Razor" Emery is a professional ice hockey goaltender, currently playing for Atlant Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League . He formerly played for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League ....
 has a picture of Chuvalo painted on his goalie mask.

He also appeared as the ill-fated arm-wrestler in the 1986 version of The Fly
The Fly (1986 film)

The Fly is an American science fiction horror film released in . Produced by Mel Brooks and 20th Century Fox, directed by David Cronenberg, and starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz, it is a big budget remake of the The Fly of the same name, but with a substantially different Plot ....
.

To mark the 40th anniversary of his July 19, 1967 fight against Joe Frazier, he and Frazier held a gala in Toronto, raising money for different charities.

On August 14, 2008, George Chuvalo's kitchen was the featured renovation project on the popular Canadian TV series Holmes on Homes
Holmes on Homes

Holmes on Homes is a Canada television series airing on HGTV Canada in Canada, and also on several other Alliance Atlantis networks in Canada , as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and on TLC in the United States ....
, not unsurprisingly titled Kitchen Knockout.

External links