![]() ![]() It took 40-year-old Chuvalo only 2 minutes and 24 seconds to put away 33-year-old Earl McLeay in December 1977. Lacking in skills, overloaded with courage, the one undisputed title he earned was "the toughest man in Canada". In that historic company, he was destined just to be a willing contender. In a different generation, Chuvalo might have snagged a brief hold of the belt. Some boast when his resume included clashes with Ali (twice), Joe Frazier (who shattered the orbital bone under one of his eyes), George Foreman, Floyd Patterson, Jimmy Ellis and Ernie Terrell, boldface names that defined arguably the greatest era in the division and the sport. In 93 professional bouts, he finished with a 73-18-2 record but was never knocked to the canvas. No question I got the best of that deal.” “When it was all over, Ali was the guy who went to the hospital because he was pissing blood,” said Chuvalo. Even if the champion always looked in control of the contest, he later described Chuvalo as the toughest fighter he'd faced to that point in his career. An excessively cruel jibe about a game Canadian heavyweight who'd signed up for the bout at just 17 days' notice, his opponent made a mockery of the insult when he became the first man to take Ali 15 rounds. In the build-up to their first fight at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens in March, 1966, Muhammad Ali dubbed George Chuvalo "the washerwoman". ![]()
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