George Chuvalo, the sturdiest of all heavyweights, dies at the age of 89

George Chuvalo, the heavyweight whose chin was often described as the sturdiest in boxing history, died on September 12 – his birthday – at the age of 89.

At his peak during the 1960s and early 70s, Chuvalo could not only take a hefty shot from the likes of Joe Frazier and George Foreman without ever going down, he could also bang with authority. The five-time Canadian champion knocked out Jerry Quarry, Yvon Durelle, and Doug Jones, he outpointed Cleveland Williams, and twice went the distance with Muhammad Ali, who more than once described Chuvalo as the toughest opponent he’d faced.

Other notable fighters on his 73-18-2 (64 KOs) record include Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell, Jimmy Ellis, Zora Folley, Oscar Bonavena, and Buster Mathis.

Chuvalo, born and raised in Toronto, credited his robust physicality to his Croatian immigrant parents; his mother would pluck chickens all day while his father – hampered by a broken arm that was never properly fixed – skinned cattle by hand in a slaughterhouse.

His parents supported his journey into boxing. It began when he had his first organised fight, in a local church, at 10 years old.

“They would go to [my] fights,” Chuvalo told me in 2011. “But my mother wouldn’t see the fights because she couldn’t watch them. She would sit next to my father and ask him about them. But she couldn’t watch.”

Plenty watched when Chuvalo challenged Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1966. The challenger had taken the bout on 17 days’ notice and would last the full 15 rounds, digging at “The Greatest’s” body throughout. Though the Canadian conceded that this peak version of Ali was the best boxer he encountered, he did have an issue with the champion’s groin cup, however.

“It was way above the belt,” Chuvalo said. “I remember thinking before the fight as we were getting introduced it was like Elmer Fudd fighting Bugs Bunny with his ears sticking out of his trunks.”

Six years later, Chuvalo again went the distance with Ali, this time losing on points after 12 rounds. He would fight on until 1978 when, at the age of 41, he quit the sport in disgust after being asked to defend his national title against Trevor Berbick in the challenger’s adopted hometown. “Fuck you,” Chuvalo said to the commissioner. “I should have fought him in Toronto.”

In retirement, Chuvalo flirted with acting but stayed in boxing, perhaps most notably as the trainer of the up-and-coming Donovan “Razor” Ruddock. Chuvalo remembered Ruddock being thrown out of sparring with then-world champion Larry Holmes for “out-jabbing the jabber” ahead of Holmes’ first loss to Michael Spinks. Ruddock, however, would soon be tempted away from Chuvalo as he rose in prominence.

Worse, much worse, was to come.

He would lose three of his sons to drug overdoses and his first wife, who simply could not cope, to suicide. Chuvalo dedicated much of his later life to visiting schools and warning on the dangers of drugs. It was the only way he could make sense of the losses.

A natural raconteur with a wicked sense of humor, the thick-set Chuvalo was joyful company and an excellent public speaker.

Until his 22-year career inevitably caught up with him.  

For a long time, it looked as though he’d gotten away with it. Like that freakish 40-a-day smoker who somehow lives to the ripe old age of 98, Chuvalo – so quick witted and wise – was the boxer who took punches from some of the best heavyweights in history and barely had as much as a headache.

But perhaps even Chuvalo, who in 2018 was ruled to have declining mental capacity before advanced dementia was confirmed four years later, knew it was coming all along.

“I don’t think I suffer from any dementia, at least not yet anyway,” he said to me in 2011.

“It does make you think. A lot of fighters are okay for a while and then they’ll get messed up. You see them one day and they’re fine. The next time you see them they can’t remember anything.

“Floyd Patterson seemed all right, didn’t he? He was always kind of a quiet guy but the next thing you know, he can’t remember anything. Next thing you know, he’s dead.”