Ali vs Chuvalo, March 29, 1966

http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/03/29/


Broadcast Date: March 29, 1966Fight night. March 29, 1966. Maple Leaf Gardens. Fifteen rounds for the World Heavyweight Title. George Chuvalo, a working-class boxer from Toronto, takes on Muhammad Ali, "the greatest of all time." In this historic clip from CBC Radio, Don Chevrier and Dick Beddoes set the stage for this epic title tussle. Once the ring introductions are completed, Don Dunphy, the dean of fight announcers, prepares to call the blow-by-blow action. Buoyed by the hometown crowd, Chuvalo hangs with Ali as they enter the final rounds. But the champion is too quick for him. Chuvalo has lost his steam and throws a flurry of punches "as wild as a night in the Yukon." Ali, then still known as Cassius Clay, continues to tag Chuvalo with crushing body blows. And yet, Chuvalo keeps going forward. "How many would have thought it would go this far?" asks Dunphy at the start of the 15th round. Chuvalo is behind on points. He knows he has to knock Ali out in order to win the fight. He has three minutes to do it. Midway through the round, Chuvalo explodes. He lands four vicious left-hands to Ali's jaw before clubbing the champion with a wicked right to the head. For the first time in the fight Ali is in trouble. "Chuvalo may have hurt Clay! Chuvalo may have hurt Clay!" screams Dunphy. Sensing an upset, the crowd rises to its feet as their hero goes in for the kill. But Chuvalo can't put away the champion. The bell rings to end the fight. Photographers, newsmen and Muslims crowd around ringside as the announcer declares the winner. Ali wins by a unanimous decision and retains the title. In an instant, Chuvalo's life-long dreams are dashed. "Certainly no mistake about the outcome," says Chevrier, "[but] Chuvalo can be proud."
Chuvalo fights Ali• Prior to the fight, bookies had Chuvalo as a 7-to-1 long-shot of lifting the title from Ali. • "The judges voted for Ali, but he had to be taken to the hospital afterwards while I went dancing with my wife." — George Chuvalo after the Ali fight.• In countless interviews since the 1966 bout, Ali has credited Chuvalo as being one of the toughest opponents of his career. • The cover story of the April 11, 1966, issue of Sports Illustrated was a report on the Ali-Chuvalo fight. The headline read: Cassius Clay: The Man, The Muslim, The Mystery. • Chuvalo was the first man to go the distance with Ali since Doug Jones did it on March 13, 1963. However, Ali's fight with Jones was only scheduled for 10 rounds. By lasting 15 rounds, Chuvalo stood toe-to-toe with Ali longer than any other opponent in his previous 22 fights. Prior to the Chuvalo fight, the longest an opponent lasted with Ali was 12 rounds. On Nov. 22, 1965, Floyd Patterson battled Ali into the 12th round before being knocked out. • Six years after they met in Maple Leaf Gardens, Chuvalo and Ali fought each other in Vancouver. Just like the Toronto fight, Chuvalo went the distance with Ali and lost a 12-round unanimous decision. Over the two fights, Chuvalo lasted 27 rounds with Ali. During Ali's entire career, only Joe Frazier (41 rounds), Ken Norton (39) and Leon Spinks (30) lasted longer than Chuvalo (Frazier and Norton fought Ali three times). • In 2002 the National Film Board of Canada released The Last Round, a documentary chronicling the events leading to the Chuvalo-Ali fight in 1966. Directed by Joseph Blasioli and written by Globe and Mail columnist Stephen Brunt, the film made its world premiere at the 2003 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto. • Considered Canada's leading boxing writer, Brunt wrote Facing Ali: The Opposition Weighs In, a critically acclaimed book that details the lives of Ali's most famous opponents. Brunt writes of the Ali-Chuvalo fight in his book: "Simply hanging in against the greatest fighter in the world...was all that Canadians asked of him. They didn't expect to beat the United States, in the ring or anywhere else."
Chuvalo fights Ali
Medium: Radio
Program: CBC Radio Sports Special
Broadcast Date: March 29, 1966
Guest(s):
Announcer: Dick Beddoes, Don Chevrier, Don Dunphy
Duration: 29:04
Last updated: March 7, 2008