An evening with George Chuvalo

I remember the night like it was yesterday. It was a private party held by Canadian promoter Murray Brace. The former professional baseball team owner and boxing promoter, who now resides in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, hosted the party at a friend’s house who was a supporter of the local cards that Brace, who regularly did 4-5 shows per year, ran. It was a gorgeous mansion and I felt that I really didn’t really fit in. But, Brace, as affable and friendly a guy as you’ll ever meet, made sure I was invited. It was a night that would see a cast of characters walk through the door, along with local notable fight guys, many of them whom could also fall under the handle of ‘character’. But, the most famous guy in the house that night, as he had been on many nights thrilling Canadian fight fans, was George Chuvalo.

Chuvalo was hanging out with a collection of somewhat modern-era fight guys (in some form or another): boxers, promoters, and fight-card supporters on that night. But, make no mistake, George was from a different time.

George, the son of Croatian immigrants, settled into life in Toronto in the 1930’s. At 19 years of age, under much more lenient commission rules, Chuvalo would turn pro after an undefeated amateur career and continue that tradition by knocking out 4 guys in one night in his debut as a professional. He would fight 93 times as a pro and 64 of his opponents would not hear the final bell. He fought for 22 years. He amassed a ledger that would see him in the ring with George Foreman, Oscar Bonavena, Muhammad Ali, Jerry Quarry, Yvonne Durelle, Floyd Patterson, Jimmy Ellis, Ernie Terrell and Joe Frazier. He fought at The Houston Astrodome, Maple Leaf Gardens, Madison Square Garden and The Montreal Forum. George fought all over the world - in Canada, The United States and Europe. This was a hard man who fought in a hard era of heavyweight boxing. Life in the ring, and certainly later on out of it, often saw him navigate a hard, if not outright tragic, road.

This is going back 16 years, but it was a night I won’t forget. The house was the usual scene of conversations, a few drinks, delicious food and plenty of laughs and fight tales. Brace had taken local boxing shows to a new level with light, sounds, dancing girls, live bands, some good scraps and plenty of legendary ringside guests. Current UFC spectacles have nothing on Murray Brace. George, a friend of Brace’s and a regular ringside guest at his cards, was certainly the big guy that most guys were there to hang with. How often do you get to hang with Canadian boxing royalty?

My earliest recollections of Chuvalo were from hearing about him from my Dad who was very old school in his approach to fighters. Glossy records and undefeated ledgers meant little to him as a fight fan. As my late dad used to say, “With a good manager, anyone can be undefeated. It isn’t always if they won, it’s who they fought”, he’d say. And George fought ‘em all.

As the evening wore on, at one point I slipped into a quiet room off the main living room area where the party was in full swing. I wanted to sit for a moment and relax and just rest for a minute. About a minute later, who ambles in? George. While I had been introduced quickly to him earlier, it was amongst a large group looking to get a minute with the Canadian boxing legend. Over the course of the next 15 minutes or so I was intrigued at how gentle this bear of a man seemed. He was chuckling about his “old aching knees” as he patiently answered my questions about the many legends he fought. While sadly, it appears Chuvalo is suffering from some dementia these days, as he is into his 80’s now, he was very sharp and articulate that night. Save for the classic boxers nose, you’d never know what he had previously done for a living. However, sitting across from him it was apparent, even now as a senior citizen, he didn’t present as a guy you would want to cross. I joked with him that he “looked very good” and “looked like he could crack the top 10 today”. I remember he rolled his eyes, laughed and said, “I might be able to land a few when I got in there, the problem is I couldn’t get up the ring steps with these aching legs”. For a man who was renowned for his almost unfathomable toughness, Chuvalo had a very gentle and soft side to him.

In all honesty, with the tragedy that has beset his life outside of the ring, losing sons to drug related deaths and his first wife to suicide, he appeared exactly as he was; as a man who had been down a long, tough road in life. Have you ever looked at someone who, amongst smiles and friendly banter, had a sadness in their eyes? That was Chuvalo to me.

Maxboxing recently caught up with Murray Brace from his home in Mexico to ask him to share his thoughts on Chuvalo who, over the course of their relationship, became a good friend.

Bill Tibbs: Murray, how are you? Always great to chat.

Murray Brace: Great friend, how are you?

BT: Let’s talk about George Chuvalo.

MB: I’d love to Billy. He is a friend and a guy I spent a lot of time with. What a life. What a fighter.

BT: You brought him into some of your cards, but you guys ended up quite good friends and you got to know him well. What are your first thoughts when I ask you to tell me about George?

MB: George, I got to know him through Pat Connaughton. I picked him up at the airport for the first time, never met him, and he gives me a big hug and says, “You’re a lot younger than I thought you’d be”. We started to laugh. I took him to Alesha’s famous Ukrainian restaurant, and he dropped 24 perogies, cabbage rolls and kielbasa, and then said, “I’m ready to sleep”. (Laughs). He stayed out at the ranch and I go to know him very well. Very gentle guy. Opened up about his fears and dreams. He had trouble sleeping at night and asked me to leave the hallway and bedroom light on. He slept all night with the lights on. But, the guy was charming beyond belief.

BT: Really? That’s interesting. I remember him as a real nice guy.

MB: He was Billy. He was highly intelligent. You know he was a trusting and giving guy if you were in his tight circle and he did keep a tight circle.

BT: You two seemed to click right away.

MB: Buddy, let me tell you, when I picked him up, in the limo that I had arranged to get him, I took care of our business right away. He looked at me and said, “Thanks Muzz”. That is what he always called me. Then he said, “Exactly as Pat (Connaughton) said you would be”. I clarified our business arrangement right off the top. I didn’t want that hanging over his head, wondering if I was a straight shooter. I wanted him to know he was taken care of, all up front and then he could relax. I wanted him to be open and have fun, relaxed and be focused on the event. Smart move by me, get the business out of the way so he could focus on what he was as there for.

BT: Did you guys ever get down to talking about the specifics of his career? Anything in particular you discussed?

MB: Of course, we talked a lot about his career. We talked about his manager briefly, Irv Ungerman. He owned a chicken operation, multi-millionaire guy. He really didn’t know the game but George trusted him. George was supposed to fight the winner of Ali-Liston. George was at the fight. You know what George said to me? He said, “Murr, I would have beaten Liston that night. Ali didn’t want me”. George was ranked very high in his early years, that’s how good he was. He said, “I would have beaten Liston for sure”. He was told if Ali gets by Liston, you’ll get the fight. But, they lied to him. He told me another thing that really hurt him, messed him up. When he fought Floyd Patterson at Madison Square Garden and he won the fight and they stole the fight from him. The fans booed the decision. Then, he told me the last time his heart was broken was when he lost to Ernie Terrell. He said, “I always knew boxing was a bit fixed”, but, he said, “this fight showed me it was really fixed”. After that he really lost his heart for the game in some ways. The 2nd time he fought Ali it was a last-minute thing he said and then he said he fought him again and he said, “I never really did anything to Ali, except become good friends with him”.

BT: You guys got very close and shared a lot of great stories.

MB: We became good friends. He would often stay on after I brought him in because we just liked hanging out and talking. We’d sit up to 3 or 4 in the morning and I’d love hearing about the old fight days. I’d bring him in on a Wednesday for the pre-fight party and then he’d be at the show on Thursday; I always did Thursday shows. Then, he’d be scheduled to fly back to Toronto on Friday. But, he’d ask if he could stay on for a few days and hang out with me and just go around helping with the different post-fight jobs that I always had to do. I remember one time when I booked him into a beautiful suite at the Westin Hotel and he called me after the first night and asked if he could stay at my place. We hung out a lot and had great times.

BT: I know you probably have a million stories about him but any final thoughts on him?

MB: Well, my friend John Holeman ran into him a while back and he told me that he couldn’t really remember me. This is a guy who was always calling to hang out and we were in touch a lot. He used to tell John (Holeman), “Let’s go visit Muzz, let’s go hang out”. He has dementia now, it’s sad but he is getting on and he did fight some very tough guys. I know he is struggling a bit now and I’m sorry to hear that.

BT: Considering who he fought his health has been amazing really.

MB: Oh boy, did he ever fight everybody. He wasn’t always the winner but there were none tougher. Period. He was fighting in a very deep era for heavyweights, many say the greatest era, and he was holding his own with the world’s best. George is an intelligent, kind guy and I have very fond memories of him. My memories of our times are all good ones. A true Canadian boxing legend. Everything that has happened to him, in and out of the ring. The guys he fought. What he has gone through in his personal life. The career he had. What a life.

BT: Thanks for the chat Murray. Always great to talk.

MB: Anytime Billy. Hope to see you soon.