Canadian heavyweight boxer George Chuvalo, who went toe-to-toe with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman and was never knocked down during his 93 professional bouts, died on Sept. 12, which was his 89th birthday.
The World Boxing Council confirmed Chuvalo’s death on its website. Tom Doyle, a close family friend, also announced the boxer’s death, according to The New York Times.
The Star reported in 2017 that Chuvalo had been living for at least a couple of years with “significant cognitive impairment.” He lived at a long-term care center in Toronto, the CBC reported.
Called “the toughest guy I ever fought” by Ali, Chuvalo was a five-time Canadian national heavyweight champion, the Toronto Star reported. He had a pro record of 73-18-2 with 64 knockouts during his 23-year career.
Canadian boxing legend George Chuvalo has died at 89. A five-time Canadian heavyweight champion, he went 93 pro bouts without ever being knocked down. pic.twitter.com/zIXVJXzu7y
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) September 13, 2026
Chuvalo went the distance with Ali in a 1966 bout at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens and repeated the feat six years later at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum, according to the newspaper.
Chuvalo also absorbed the hardest punches from Frazier and Foreman but was never knocked off his feet, the Canadian Broadcasting Company reported.
In 1967, Frazier broke Chuvalo’s cheekbone, the Times reported.
“My eyeball felt like a grapefruit,” Chuvalo said after the fight.
In 1971, Foreman pounded Chuvalo relentlessly but he did not hit the canvas, the Times reported.
Chuvalo once said that it took more than talent to absorb the punishment he took and still have a fine record in the ring. He would be ranked in boxing’s top 10 along with Ali, Frazier and Foreman.
“I’ll be remembered as a guy who fought the best of his time, beat a lot of them and lost to some others,” Chuvalo wrote in his 2013 autobiography, “Chuvalo: A Fighter’s Life: The Story of Boxing’s Last Gladiator.”
In a 1999 interview with Canadian magazine Maclean’s, Chuvalo said he “knocked out all the number fours.”
“I had trouble with the ones, twos and threes.”
Chuvalo went 3-6 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. His 1965 bout against Floyd Patterson was named fight of the year by The Ring magazine, the Star reported.
Chuvalo was chosen to represent Canada at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia but turned pro instead according to the newspaper.
“It didn’t make economic sense,” he said.
Chuvalo wrote in his memoir that he was more fortunate in the ring than he was outside of the ropes, the Star reported.
“I guess I was lucky, because I never had to deal with getting back on my feet,” he wrote. “Not in the ring, anyway. Outside the ropes has been a different story.”
Chuvalo lost three sons and his first wife, Lynne, to drugs and suicide, according to the newspaper.
“If you added up every punch I took and multiplied the total by 10,000, it wouldn’t begin to equal the pain of losing three sons and a wife to drugs and suicide,” Chuvalo wrote in his memoir, according to the CBC.
George Chuvalo was a heavyweight boxing legend, a family friend and a Canadian icon. My thoughts are with all of George’s family and loved ones as we mourn his passing.
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) September 13, 2026
The son of Croatian immigrants, Chuvalo grew up in Toronto’s Junction and first gained recognition as an amateur boxer, the Star reported.
Chuvalo was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (1990), the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (1995) and the World Boxing Hall of Fame (1997), according to the newspaper. He was also named to the Order of Canada in 1998 and was added to Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2005.
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