I found this
28/05/05
The record is as follows -- 73 wins, 18 losses and two draws -- 64 of those wins by knockout. And of course, as he says, "I kissed a few girls, but I never kissed the canvas."
So, on a sunny afternoon at the Egerton Marcus Boxing Academy, the question is put to George Chuvalo bluntly. After a life famously standing his ground, taking shots from some of the greatest fighters in history, why does he still have his marbles?
Chuvalo, who talks as he fought, headfirst and full ahead, actually puts the brakes on for a second. "I don't know," he says.
And then he reveals his secret.
"Did I take shots? Oh yeah, we all do. But I was smart enough early to realize you mete out punishment and you absorb it. So what I did was stand on my head all the time, for a half hour at a time. And I chewed bubblegum to build up my jaw and neck muscles. I'd put my feet up on the wall, standing on my head. Sometimes I'd get bored and put on music, or talk on the phone.
"And who knows what else? Maybe it's my genes. I've been lucky. Whatever it is, I don't know."
Unspoken in the luck is the fate of Chuvalo's most famous opponent, Muhammad Ali, to whom he lost twice by decision. It seems unlikely any amount of headstands would have protected Ali from the Parkinson's disease that ravages him today.
"Who's to say, Ali, whether it's genetic? He could've gotten that without ever being a fighter. One thing everybody can agree on is that getting hit in the head never does you any good."
Chuvalo, one of Canada's most storied fighters, gets his star on Canada's Walk of Fame next week ("I'll be the first athlete there that can't skate," he says proudly). And as his fans know, he's a survivor twofold -- from the boxing wars and from a mind-boggling series of family tragedies that saw three drug-addicted sons dead, his wife commit suicide in despair, and Chuvalo inspired to crusade against the scourge of addiction.
The first part always seems tied in with the fighter called The Greatest (though Chuvalo knocked out contenders like Jerry Quarry and Doug Jones). It was ever thus last year when the Russell Crowe movie Cinderella Man (about '30s fighter James J. Braddock) was shot in town with Russell Crowe. Ali's old trainer Angelo Dundee was along as a creative consultant.
"We got together, Angelo and me, and he told me something about the second Ali fight I'd never heard before. I'd given Ali a really good left hook, and he was really out on his feet and I didn't know it. Angelo told me he was ready for the sweepers."
Chuvalo had actually met the movie's title character. "He refereed one of my fights at the Gardens. I fought a guy, Julio Mederas, the Cuban champion (Chuvalo knocked him out). I said 'Hi' to Braddock, seemed like a quiet guy.
"It was funny being in the Gardens (at Cinderella Man) and seeing all the dummies in the seats. I got to meet Ron Howard. I didn't meet Russell Crowe though. I wanted to tell him he was born the same day as my youngest son, Jesse, April 7, '64."
The name trips smoothly off Chuvalo's tongue. But then he talks on a regular basis in front of students across the country about Jesse (who exited a life of substance abuse via a self-inflicted gunshot wound) and sons Steven and George, who overdosed, and his distraught wife, Lynne, who took an overdose of pills.
Chuvalo, who has since remarried, and credits his wife, Joanne, for helping keep him on his feet, is no simplistic "just say no" crusader. His talks to kids embrace a lifestyle approach that excoriates "respectable" drugs like alcohol and cigarettes.
"A young guy wants sex, sees one girl smoking, one not. Which one does he hit on? You drink, your inhibitions go down. How many girls have sex the first time under the influence?"
And the rewards are tangible. "Two weeks ago, I was in Calgary, and on two separate occasions there I had kids voluntarily give up drugs that were in their pockets.
"And I had a girl come up to me in Marathon (Ont.) last week. "I talk in my speech about how one day, all you young people are gonna be like me, parents, grandparents, and you got this responsibility to your unborn children. They want you to make the right decisions. Your unborn children don't want you to be this alcohol-sucking, cigarette-smoking addicted parent. They want someone they can be proud of.
"So this girl comes up with tears in her eyes, and she says, 'My children will be proud of me.' And she says thank you. That gives me the steam to keep going. Like my kids didn't die in vain."
From
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Boxing/2005/0 ... 4-sun.html
George Chuvola honoured.
-
Guest
- Heavyweight
I know him, not only were we born in the same country but we currently live in the same city and have attended many fighting events here locally.
He gave me a nice autographed pic of himself.
He is a super nice man, what happened in his personal life was a tragedy, the reasons why they happened are pointless, he harbors some guilt no doubt, as any parent would, it is very unfortunate.
He is survived by at least 1 full grown son, that i know of, who is a teacher.
Ali said getting punched by him was like being kicked by horse.
He was one tough mother f#%r, and that bubble gum training story is very true.
He gave me a nice autographed pic of himself.
He is a super nice man, what happened in his personal life was a tragedy, the reasons why they happened are pointless, he harbors some guilt no doubt, as any parent would, it is very unfortunate.
He is survived by at least 1 full grown son, that i know of, who is a teacher.
Ali said getting punched by him was like being kicked by horse.
He was one tough mother f#%r, and that bubble gum training story is very true.