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MightGuy420x OP t1_itmlz99 wrote

Chuvalo is best known for his two fights against Muhammad Ali. He went the distance both times, in each case losing the decision by a wide margin on the scorecards. The first fight, on March 29, 1966, at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, was for Ali's world heavyweight title. "He's the toughest guy I ever fought", said Ali of Chuvalo after the fight.

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drcoolio-w-dahoolio t1_itn5usk wrote

I met Chuvalo. He spoken in front of our class and told us his story. He mentioned after his fight with Muhammed Ali, who had to go to the hospital, that he went dancing with his wife. Also he has had a lot of tradegy in his life. I believe something along the lines of his son and then shortly after his wife overdosing on pills. It was such a tragic story to hear about I Remember.

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Aporkalypse_Sow t1_itp4tp7 wrote

Not going down against young Foreman is a feat that isn't shared by many.

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Bobzyurunkle t1_itmlrw1 wrote

I shared an elevator with him once. He's an intimidating form of human even years after his victories. Seemed like a super nice guy too.

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SharpieBass t1_itoemwd wrote

I’ve met him a few times over the years. He is a big bastard. I was amazed at how big his hands were. Super nice guy.

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Downtown-Regret-505 t1_itmqkgy wrote

Met him years and years and years ago while working at Staples as a student. Very friendly and soft spoken guy with mits like a stack of bananas. He was looking for a specific type of pen, damn thing looked like a tooth pick in his hand.

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knightslider11 t1_itmx90p wrote

His record says he lost twice by KO. So were they standing knock outs where the ref had to step in and stop it?

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PM_ME_A_FUTURE t1_itmz4s0 wrote

Just watched both TKOs.

1: vs George Foreman, ref stopped it after Foreman pummeled him for a good 20 seconds in the corner. He honestly didn't look THAT hurt though, just tired.

2: vs Joe Frazier, looks like it was stopped because he had a big cut over his eye that Frazier kept hitting. He looked more hurt there, but didn't really look like he was that close to going down.

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sydster_d t1_ito3uvu wrote

Vs Foreman, he took what appeared to be close to 50+ punches (many of them flush on the face). His manager was begging the referee to stop the fight. But, at no point did Chuvalo look to be in danger of going down. It did seem like you were watching a man severely damaging his brain because he took so many vicious blows to the head.

https://youtu.be/OQxuRuVvI3Y

In the Frazier fight, it’s not the same pummeling. But, Frazier has methodically worked on the cut over his left eye, and Chuvalo can’t see out of it at the end (he seems to not know where Frazier is for a moment when the ref stops the fight).

https://youtu.be/LvmEUHbsAc0

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m83live t1_itmznor wrote

Met him a few times way back when I worked at Loblaws (Dixon & Islington) and he'd come in from time to time. He's been through so much with family tragedy :(

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TronnaRaps t1_itrrdik wrote

Oh my God, the pain that family went through. Tragic as fuck.

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PJkitchener t1_itn5f5a wrote

I met this mountain of a man in high-school. He came to tell thr stories of drugs and kids. This poor guy has buried too many kids. His fists where literally like Ham blocks! Huge tough as nails Brickhouse of a man

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beneath_the_bridge t1_itnavhv wrote

His DQ loss is interesting.

"Erskine went to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to fight George Chuvalo, who was hoping to show that he had the talent to fight for the world title against Floyd Patterson. Unfortunately for Chuvalo the fight, on 2 October 1961, was stopped in the fifth round and Chuvalo was disqualified for persistent head butting. Erskine claimed that he was butted eight times during the five rounds, while Chuvalo claimed he was retaliating for getting thumbed in the eye by Joe."

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Odolinsky t1_itnctss wrote

Thumbed in the eye with big ol gloves on? Does that happen a lot in boxing? I know it does in mma but the gloves are so big in boxing seems like that would be tough to do.

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beneath_the_bridge t1_itne8zj wrote

I think it was more common back then as the gloves were different, somewhere between what boxing gloves are and mma gloves are.

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Odolinsky t1_itnf60z wrote

Oh yea you're right I looked at gloves from that era and some of them def look like you could thumb an eye if you tried.

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memberberries902 t1_itndlsg wrote

My favourite Chuvalo quote is after one of his loses to Ali “He went to the hospital and I went out dancing with my wife.” His story is tragic however, he lost pretty much his entire family to suicide, but remained reportedly one of the nicest people ever.

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FrankDrakman t1_itnpyfj wrote

When I was six or seven, my dad was a member at the Argonaut Club in Toronto. So was Chuvalo.

One day, my dad took my younger brother and I into the sauna. It was the first time I'd ever been in one, and I thought it was unbearably hot. My brother and I had our glasses of pop with us and I remember sticking my nose into the glass to breathe the ice-cooled air.

George Chuvalo came in. He went to the top bench, where it was even hotter, and started doing situps. He was still doing them when we left a few minutes later.

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Goodolchuckno t1_itnucsm wrote

He came to my school and talked about heroin addiction, Not his but his son’s. He had some pretty bad stories. One of the reasons I never did hard drugs. He seemed like a good man that was hurting for his kids.

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browtfareyoudoing t1_itpy6oz wrote

Alternatively, the DARE program made abstinence look like square city.

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bolanrox t1_itrc3fa wrote

the whole idea of just say no.. like anyone ever forced me to smoke pot or what ever. you say no thanks and they go thats cool and moves on..

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Cmacbudboss t1_itnt4u6 wrote

When they asked Chuvalo who he thought should have won the fight between him and Ali he replied “he went to the hospital with a bleeding kidney and me, I went dancing with my wife”

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DevangAbhyankar t1_itoo1ai wrote

Looks like I'm the only person in comments who hasn't met him

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radiocleve t1_itn4he6 wrote

I’m telling you, Dad, you can’t knock him over.

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Roastednutz666 t1_ito8mwn wrote

My parents are good friends with George Chuvalo

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No-Wonder1139 t1_itom539 wrote

Yeah I saw an interview with him about fighting Mohammed Ali. He lost the fight, but Ali spent the night in the hospital, and Chuvalo went dancing with his wife. (Chuvalo went dancing with his own wife, not Ali's) It was a fun y interview.

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throw_away_nj_123 t1_ittgyyu wrote

Damn that’s awesome. I really like watching boxing matches but have never done deep dives on the sport and it’s history so I really appreciate this post.

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Papichuloft t1_itnbkwm wrote

Many of his losses were to legends.

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95Keys t1_itnlpa4 wrote

AND he’s on the cover of a sick album and has a really impactful spoken word part on the closing track. for some reason it gives me shivers every time on “mettle” when he says “the worst thing in the world, is to be in a fight, and get tired. you don’t wanna get tired in a fight.”

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Teddy_canuck t1_itpe5vx wrote

He spoke at my school in super rural northern Ontario. I still have his autograph.

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ElGuano t1_itpudpx wrote

I've also never been knocked down in all of my professional boxing career! I think we all know where this is going.

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FuriouSherman t1_itq82ec wrote

Yup. Muhammad Ali even once called Chuvalo the single toughest opponent he ever faced. High praise from a man who fought Joe Frazier and Sonny Liston.

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Halogen12 t1_itqnlt1 wrote

He came to my work (a professional office) in Calgary about 30 years ago. He was a very nice man. I didn't know who he was until after he left and my boss told me about him.

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Kymer72 t1_itqst0r wrote

They call him the brick hit-house.

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Novus20 t1_itnsopk wrote

Other then his kid could be kids doing drugs that took him down, I remember he came and talk at my school, that’s a tough man but brother he felt it with his kid(s)

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TimeWizardGreyFox t1_itq5rqa wrote

Funny enough my brother was friends with his grandson. Never met him sadly

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HeavenPiercingMan t1_itq5soh wrote

The only guy who broke him was a human-fly hybrid.

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KingOfThe_Jelly_Fish t1_itnlye6 wrote

Hang on a second, on the Wikipedia page linked in this post, under the section 'Professional Boxing Record' it literally shows he lost 2 bouts by knockout.....

Edit - in its opening section it also states that he had 93 professional fights, but in the above mentioned section it states 94 professional fights. So which is it people?

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Mind_taker84 t1_itnn04z wrote

They were TKO's. The fights were called off due to the brutal nature of the fight.

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ButteredNun t1_itq0ecv wrote

Presumably he just stood there and ate shit

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Skinnersmonkey t1_itqhqsq wrote

he lost by tko to foreman though in the 3rd....if it wasn't stopped he would have dropped eventually

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Drvanfalk t1_itnudf9 wrote

He is who I learned to box from. Turns out alot of it is being big.

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RedSonGamble t1_itmssn2 wrote

This is attributed to him being in a barely conscious state all the time

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american-titan t1_itn4lut wrote

I mean I wouldn't get knocked down if I fought a grill either, where's my TIL post?

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frealfr t1_itmyfcq wrote

Monument to man's vanity = sports

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Lausn t1_itn7q5a wrote

Monument to frealfr's stupidity = your comment.

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Dunkel_Reynolds t1_itnek76 wrote

Lol this probably sounded a bit more witty in your head than it came across posted here.

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MightGuy420x OP t1_itmzyng wrote

You do realize that a good majority of pro athletes contribute a lot to their communities. Also woman have had pro sports leagues for a while now.

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