Ali/Chuvalo documentary

[Lurch]

Did anyone catch the documentary about Ali and Chuvalo fighting in 1966 on CBC. It was kind of similar to 'When We Were Kings' but much more from a Canadian perspective. Some pretty interesting things from the show:

1. Conn Smythe resigned from the board of Maple Leaf Gardens over the fight. He refused to be part of any organization that would let Ali fight in the building given that Ali was speaking out about his coming draft - Ali had not yet actually refused to enter the army, but said he was going to.
2. Chuvalo fought for over 20 years and was never knocked down - a great Canadian in my mind that has had a pretty unfortunate life since he left boxing.
3. Some stuff on the Black Panthers and Islam in the US. I found it pretty interesting given the current 'Blame Islam' faction in the world.
4. A lot of classic Ali, verbally jousting with reporters and opponents.
5. Bizarre footage of Chuvalo dressed up as a woman with a 'washer board' after Ali said he fought like an old woman doing the wash. Chuvalo was trying to taunt Ali into signing a contract to fight, which Ali wanted no part of cuz he was scheduled to fight Liston in a couple of months.

[Mike__]

Yah I watched maybe half of it before I had to leave. Very interesting stuff, one thing though, what was the deal with the phantom punch that Ali threw? That was when I left so I didn't catch that.

[Lurch]

The phantom punch knockout with Sonny Liston. Very famous picture of Ali standing over Liston screaming to get up. Even Ali always seemed to suggest it was a dive after the fact, saying he's so fast no one could see the punch.

[icarus]

That was a pretty good fight. Chuvalo gave Ali a number of hard flurries to the body. But at the end of the match Chuvalo looked like crap (probably because he kept letting Ali punch him in the head without doing anything about it) and Ali looked like he could go another fifteen rounds.

[habernac]

was that fight in Montreal? In one of Dick Irvin's books, he met Ali after a fight and wanted to shake his hand. He smiled and said "Sorry, too sore." One of my coworkers in VA met him at the airport in Charlotte, NC. Said he was very down to earth, polite. His wife was joking with him as well. "Now Cassius, stop bothering that poor man. You're not trying to get him to carry your luggage, are you?" Apparently, he's still Cassius Clay to the Mrs.

[pope04]

One of the anecdotes pertaining to the '66 bout I heard was that Chuvalo partied the night after the fight. Ali spent the same night in the hospital. Hab, I'm pretty sure the scrap was in MLG.