Chuvalo Faces Ali in Title Mismatch

Motherhood, God, Americanism, and George Chuvalo, the Brian London of the Western Hemisphere, will try to wrest the heavyweight boxing title from world champion Muhammed Ali in Toronto tonight. Las Vegas bookmakers rate Ali the eight-to-one favorite.

The challenger should go off at 80-to-1, but even the gambling establishment has a trace of patriotism. Chuvalo is a bum, and won the title shot only after World Boxing Association champion Ernie Terrell backed out of his bout with All three weeks ago.

Terrell carved a few more knots on Chuvalo's gnarled face in a lopsided contest last year. The Canadian champion has lost two of his last three bouts and 11 of 47 over-all.

Mismatch

Tonight's fight is a mismatch reminiscent of the Floyd Patterson era (Pete Rademacher, Roy Harris, remember them?), but you can't blame that on Ali. Terrell is the second best heavyweight around, and Ali signed him up only weeks after his successful title defense against Patterson last November.

Terrell was willing until Ali, known by his local draft board as Cassius Clay, was re-classified 1-A in February. It dawned on the challenger that Ali, who can't go on to graduate school or join the Peace Corps, was headed for boot camp and the title would be up for grabs.

Even Terrell was smart enough to see that he could grab better if he didn't risk a savage beating in the ring.

Ali is the best heavyweight fighter since Joe Louis, but the world he is champion of doesn't seem to care much about his boxing skills. The sporting public took notice only when the champion commented after his re-classification by the Army that he didn't "have no personal quarrel with them Viet Congs."

Then the same sportsmen who let Louis fight Nazi Max Schmeling in New York in 1938, shuffled Ali right out of the country so he couldn't soil the Flag.

Anthem-Singing

The Ali-Terrell fight was scared out of New York, Chicago, Miami, Louisville, and Huron. S.D., before it settled on the safe side of the border in Toronto. Amid the coast-to-coast chorus of National Anthem singing, the Chuvalo-for-Terrell switch barely made enough noise to get into the newspapers.

The 200 theatres originally set up to telecast the bout have shrunk to 40 (none in Boston) and may shrink more before the opening bell. The fight will be carried on radio only by the Canadian Broad-casting Company.

Ali stands to make about $200,000 for the fight, chicken feed for a man of his talents. Chuvalo will earn $30,000 for showing up.

This bout will probably be the last Ali ever fights while he is in his prime, and the champion is likely to put on a good show. Chuvalo is a boxer of the oak tree variety, and though he has never mounted a commendable offense, he does own the distinction of never having been knocked to the canvas.

Power Punch

Clay will probably try hard for a knockout to convince the skeptics that he has a power punch. Since Chuvalo is unable to back pedal, the fight should be a slugfest until the Canadian falls or Ali tires and decides to punish the challenger with his stinging jabs.

If he can't knock Chuvalo down early. Ali will probably win by a TKO in the 11th or 12th.

If I were the champion, I'd lie down in the first round. That would give boxing the glorious reputation it enjoyed before Cassius Clay fought Sonny Liston, and give the world a champion it can appreciate.