Canadian boxing great George Chuvalo dies at 89

George Chuvalo, the Toronto-born Canadian heavyweight boxer renowned for never being knocked down as a professional, has died at 89. A Canadian amateur champion at 17, he compiled a 73-18-2 professional record with 64 knockouts from 1956 to 1978, reached No. 2 in the world rankings and held the Canadian heavyweight title for much of nearly two decades.

Chuvalo’s career was defined by two bouts with Muhammad Ali: a 1966 fight at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens and a 1972 rematch at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum. Ali called Chuvalo the toughest man he had fought. Given 17 days’ notice for their first meeting, Chuvalo lasted all 15 rounds before losing on points. Ali was treated in hospital for internal bleeding afterward, while Chuvalo said he went dancing with his wife.

Chuvalo said his reputation for absorbing punches obscured his broader abilities. He pointed to his 73 wins and top-10 standing during an era that included Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. He lost a 1965 title bout to Ernie Terrell, beat Jerry Quarry in 1969 and fought nine times at Madison Square Garden, going 3-6 against leading opponents including Frazier, Foreman, Floyd Patterson and Buster Mathis. His 1965 fight with Patterson was named fight of the year by The Ring.

Although Frazier and Foreman stopped him before the scheduled distance, Chuvalo was never knocked down; referees halted those bouts because he was cut against Frazier and spitting blood against Foreman. His final fight came in December 1978, when the 41-year-old retained the Canadian title with a technical knockout of Vancouver logging-camp cook George Jerome at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market. He earned $7,500.

The World Boxing Council paid tribute to Chuvalo, describing his legacy as one of courage and an exceptional chin. Canadian boxing star Lennox Lewis called him an icon. Chuvalo entered Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997, was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1998 and added to Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2005. A statue was erected in 2011 in Ljubuski, Bosnia and Herzegovina, his family’s ancestral home.

Outside the ring, Chuvalo endured the deaths of three sons and his first wife, Lynne, involving drugs and suicide. He later married Joanne O’Hara and visited schools across Canada with an anti-drug message. In 2014, at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on the site of the former Gardens, he rang the bell associated with his first Ali fight and said Canadians had told him the bout made them proud to be Canadian.