09/25/2026
Rest easy, George Chuvalo. 1937 to 2026.
Before 161 Boxing Club opened its doors, Mattias put three fighters on our walls. Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and the toughest man either of them could have named, Toronto’s own George Chuvalo.
Ninety-three professional fights and he never touched the canvas. Five-time Canadian heavyweight champion. He took the Ali fight on seventeen days’ notice, went all fifteen rounds at Maple Leaf Gardens, and came back six years later to go the distance with him again. Frazier couldn’t drop him. Foreman couldn’t drop him. Ali himself called George the toughest guy he ever fought.
That mural isn’t decoration. It’s a standard. Every fighter who trains under it, from their first wrapped hands to their first bout, trains beneath a Canadian who proved you don’t need to be from Detroit or Vegas or Mexico City to stand with the greatest of all time. He was from here. He stayed on his feet against every legend the sport could send at him.
George passed on September 12, his 89th birthday, in the city he never left. His face stays on our wall and his standard stays in our gym. Canadian fighters, this is your inheritance. Stay up.
161 SPADINA AVE.
