[kenyan_cheena]

CHUVALO RUNS HOT AND COLD IN MONTREAL

Wednesday 20 February 2002

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA:

In a wildly-uneven performance, Canada's George Chuvalo improved his professional boxing record to 2-0 with a unanimous decision victory over Philadelphia's Al Ettore.

Fighting in his homeland for the first time, the #12 seed in the Heavyweight Boxing Federation's World Championship tournament made an uneasy start, struggling to find his range in the opening stanza and failing to land a punch of any substance until late in the round. Meanwhile, Ettore had spent the round picking Chuvalo off with volume rather than power, connecting with a number of clean shots to the body and head.

Chuvalo, who entered the ring in a robe of red and white adorned with the Canadian flag, must have been feeling a sickening sense of deja vu when he returned to his corner after the first round. In his debut against England's Brian London last month, Chuvalo had made a similarly uncertain start to the bout. But whereas against London he had been unable to get anything going until round four, against Ettore Chuvalo's fightback started immediately. He came out in the second round and dominated, rocking Ettore with damaging combinations and two separate uppercuts at either end of the round that brought howls of approval from the partisan crowd. The punishment continued into rounds three and four, as Chuvalo showed extended periods of brilliance that had only been glimpsed at in his debut. It was big power punches that were getting the job done for him. The Toronto native unleashed a savage beating upon Ettore in the fourth, to the point where referee Ken Morita appeared to be only moments from stopping the fight when the bell signalled the end of the round.

But then, something strange and, quite frankly, inexplicable happened. Chuvalo allowed Ettore back in the fight. It may have been as a result of his workrate in the previous three rounds. It may have been overconfidence or some kind of belief that his opponent had nothing left. Whatever it was, George Chuvalo gave the fifth round to Al Ettore on a platter, simply by sitting back and cruising. And Ettore won the round quite easily, mostly due to an active opening seventy seconds, during which he landed no less than four separate multi-punch combinations.

So, despite his dominance of the middle rounds (and whether he knew it or not), 19 year-old George Chuvalo was in a position where, going into the final round, he needed to win the round to make sure that he would win the fight. His trainer told him as much during the intermission.

In his HBF debut last month, 18 year-old Ettore had received what many called a lucky break when his bout against the #21 seed Ray Mercer was halted in the third round as a result of a terrible cut Ettore had sustained from his own accidental headbutt. The technical draw result saved Ettore from certain defeat. Tonight, against Chuvalo, he seemed to have been handed another lucky break when Chuvalo had taken his foot off the gas in the fifth round, enabling Ettore to win the round and still be in with a chance to win the bout. Well, Ettore wasn't able to take advantage of this lucky break. In the sixth round, George Chuvalo come out and, from the start, pounded the Philadelphia native into submission. The #12 seed didn't let up, overwhelming Ettore with a display of boxing that was resolute to the extreme. Before Ettore knew it, the round was over, and he was staggering back to his corner.

Five minutes later, the judge's verdicts were announced: winner by unanimous decision, GEORGE CHUVALO! Two of the judges had scored the fight 58-56, while the third had been even more impressed by Chuvalo, giving it to him 59-55.

***

Chuvalo sighed when asked what he felt of his performance.

"I'm not even close to satisfied," he said. "Sure, it was better than last month, but that's saying nothing. Honestly, he was at my mercy at the end of the fourth, so I should have been able to finish it in the fifth round. But not only did I fail to do that, I actually let him back into the fight."

"Still, being 2-0 must make you happy," said ESPN's Bill Farris.

Chuvalo laughed and smiled. "It's expected," he said. "We aren't at a stage yet when I can say "I'm happy." If I'm still undefeated after I fight Ray Mercer, I'll be happy."

"This audience really loves you, don't they?" Farris said, smiling.

This comment brought a loud round of applause from the capacity Bell Centre crowd.

Chuvalo smiled again. "What can I say about these wonderful people?" he said. "They've given me more support than I could have even hoped for. Ever since November when the HBF announced the tournament seeds, they've been behind me one-hundred percent. I couldn't ask for greater fans. Thank you, all of you, so much." Chuvalo pounded his chest lightly as he said these last words. "I just want to say one more thing, to all the Canadians watching tonight. There's another guy in this tournament named Sammy Langford-"

Before Chuvalo could even finish saying Langford's name, the audience had started in with applause. Chuvalo waited for it to die down before continuing.

"You may not know, but next month, he's going to be fighting here at home also. I just think it would be so great, if as many of you as possible can make it a priority to get out and support Sammy next month. He's a great guy, and I hope you'll all cheer him on."

Chuvalo's kind words for his compatriot drove the audience into a frenzy of applause and cheers, and as Chuvalo made his way back to the dressing room, they honored him with a standing ovation...