Chuvalo fighting biggest opponent

When George Chuvalo was fighting as a heavyweight in the 1960s and '70s, he prided himself on his ability to stay on his feet and never give in to an opponent.

Today 70 years old, the Canadian Hall of Famer still is fighting. Only now, the opponent is bigger than Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Joe Frazier combined.

Chuvalo talks about the dangers of getting involved with drugs. He travels all over North America, speaking at schools, church groups and prisons about the grip that drugs can have on a person and his family.

Chuvalo lost three of his five children as a result of their addiction to heroin. His wife committed suicide after his son Georgie Lee died from an overdose. He knows the pain that comes from using drugs.

"Talking to the kids helps me deal with it," Chuvalo said while in Las Vegas last week to attend the ConExpo convention. "If I can save one person, that's the fuel that keeps me going."

Chuvalo remains a national hero in Canada. In 1998, he was awarded the Order of Canada for his work with the country's youth.

"It's scary to see how common it is," Chuvalo said of drug use in society. "I never dreamed it would be this bad."

Chuvalo said he follows boxing casually these days. But he follows it enough to know the heavyweight division is in trouble.

"It's awful," he said. "A guy like (Wladimir) Klitschko, he throws his jab every half-hour."

Chuvalo, who grew up in Toronto as the son of Croatian immigrants, never was knocked down in his professional career. He lost to Ali twice, in 1966 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, where Ali scored a 15-round unanimous decision, and again in 1972 when Ali posted a 12-round unanimous decision in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Chuvalo said the closest he came to being knocked off his feet was in 1963 when he fought Mike DeJohn in Louisville, Ky.

"He caught me with an uppercut, and my knees buckled slightly," Chuvalo said. "But I didn't go down. George Foreman, he was probably the hardest puncher I ever faced. He hit like a freight train."

Chuvalo said he knows his one-man battle against drugs is an uphill climb. But he said he owes it to his lost children and wife to try.

"If I didn't do it, I'd feel like my kids died in vain," he said.

• LAS VEGAS TITLE? -- Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to get his heavyweight, Tye Fields, a title shot. But Fields, 44-1 after dropping Roderick Willis in the first round Thursday at the Hard Rock Hotel, might have to settle for what would be the mythical heavyweight championship of Las Vegas.

Arum's plan is to pit Fields, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, against another Las Vegan, former world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman, on June 28 as part of an undercard for a proposed fight between David Diaz and Manny Pacquiao at Mandalay Bay.

Arum will have a specially designed belt to go to the winner and hopes to have Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on hand to present it in the ring.

"We can have some fun with it," Arum said. "That's all it is."

• CHAVEZ JR. GOES SLOW -- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was in town Saturday to promote his April 26 fight in Mexico against Michele Orlando. But don't look for Chavez to fight in Las Vegas anytime soon.

Arum, who promotes Chavez Jr. and his younger brother, Omar, said it's hard to get the son of the Mexican legend a fight in Las Vegas because he's not sure where he would fit in.

"Every time I look at the kid, he gets bigger," Arum said. "I don't know if he's a welterweight or a junior middleweight. But we're not going to rush him. We're developing him our own way. When he's ready, we'll bring him (to Las Vegas) as a main event fighter."

Chavez (35-0-1, 28 knockouts) last fought in Las Vegas in 2006, when he knocked out Tyler Ziolowski in the second round.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2913.