George Chuovalo Research Paper

“The world is full of people who want to play it safe, people who have tremendous potential but never use it. Somewhere deep inside them, they know that they could do more in life, be more, and have more -- if only they were willing to take a few risks”- George Foreman. George Foreman certainly carried this quote with him throughout his life. He was never afraid to take risks when people would say he is to old to box he would take a risk go out there and prove them wrong. George Foreman is without a doubt a true modern day Renaissance man.

George Dixon is a Canadian boxer commonly known as “Little Chocolate” or “The Chocolate Drop.” Dixon was the first black boxer to win a bantamweight world championship. Despite the hard times, segregation, and mistreatment of blacks during his boxing era; George Dixon managed to fight his way to being one of the most prominent black boxers. Little Chocolate’s boxing career was great winning almost double the amount of his losses. “Dixon is considered by many to be the best fighter of the 19th Century.” (Cox)

Boxing is by far one of the most entertaining sporting events world-wide. There is just something about watching two individuals exchange primitive aggression out on each other. Norman Cousins Who Killed Benny Paret demonstrates the implicit hazards of the bloody sport called boxing. The story goes that, Benny (Kid) Paret, a prized fighter was coupled up against fighter Emile Griffith for a twelve round brawl on March 24th, 1962. Paret would soon suffer some serious injuries that placed him in a coma for nine days, and eventually lead to his death. In the wake of his loss, whom or what, is actually to blame for Paret’s death now comes into question.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” - Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali is by far one of the biggest names in boxing. Anytime Ali’s name is mentioned it automatically brings up the thought of a fight, but most people probably do not think about the type of fighting he did outside of the ring. Ali fought for peace and justice twenty-four seven. He also focused on respect and standing up for what he believed in (“Muhammad Ali, Co-Founder of the Ali Center.”).

The following year in 1971 Ali fought Joe Frazier, this fight was called “Fight of the Century,” this fight went 15 rounds before Frazier won by decision. In 1974, Ali and Frazier fought again, where Ali won. Later that year in Kinshasa, Zaire, Ali was an underdog to his younger opponent and former Heavyweight champion George Foreman. Here Ali beat Foreman and won back his title he had been stripped of in 1967. The next year in 1975, “Thrilla in Manilla” where Ali fought Frazier in a long 14 round fight where it ended in favor of Ali and is known as one of his toughest

The picture indirectly shows Liston passing the championship baton to Muhammad. The older Liston was finally stepping down from his heavyweight champion reign to let the younger Muhammad take over. Ali’s prime outweighed Sonny’s years of experience allowing the younger generation to take the crown, which Muhammad would then lose years later to the next younger fighter. Regardless, Muhammad’s power is shown through his body. His skin is clean of sweat showing his athleticism and quickness to react from Liston’s punches. Likewise, his mind is in the correct position in order for him to stand in the ring before thousands of people. The amount of hours spent training for this match only to have win within a relatively short time shows his amount of dedication. On the other hand, during the time of the match, the Vietnam War was underway. The picture represents Muhammad’s ability to fight back the government to show he was not interested in fighting against the Vietnamese, which he would later tell the media that he had no problems with the native people. Muhammad was able to overcome the obstacle of signing up for the military and to pursue in his real passion. Muhammad’s strength in power, thoughts, and human rights led him to his success in the ring.

Power and intensity portray one of the most known sports photos of all time. Mohamed Ali standing over Sonny Liston in the middle of the ring. The way Ali stands over Liston sends chills down your spine. He knows he just won and looks like he is saying I am the best there ever was. Not only by the way he is standing but also by the way his face is formed in a mean but excited state. With the dominance shown in the picture you can’t help but wonder what Sonny Liston is thinking or even seeing in this moment as he looks up and sees this grown man looking down on him basically saying that he is the best and you are nothing to him. The other thing that is intimidating about the picture is Ali’s body frame in general, the man is ripped clearly a lot of time was put into his training for the fight to look like that. Ali has no shame in flexing on his opponent clearly shown with his right arm clenched. His right is most likely the arm that knocked Sonny to the ground that evening.

When Muhammad was a kid he went to a Columbian Auditorium with his friend. When he got back he found out that his bike had been stolen. He was sizzling with anger, so he immediately found a cop and notified him that he was going to “whup” whoever stole his bike. Martin, the cop, was actually a boxing trainer. He said , “You better lern to box before challenging others.” Since that day, Muhammad got encouraged. Martin was who started him out, but he daily trained by a African American named Tred Stone, who taught him how to jab. Within weeks, the 89-pound Muhammad had his first bout and his first win. Boxing kept him out of trouble, he trained six days a week and never drank or smoked. Muhammad had a dream of being the world’s greatest heavyweight champion. He dedicated himself to boxing. He never worked, all he did was box and train as a

Those are some of the thoughts going through the minds of spectators on May 25,1965, as Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, upset the world and defeated Sonny Liston. This is considered the greatest scandal of the boxing world, and one of the biggest in sports history. Experts still dispute to this day whether the match was legitimist, or if Sonny Liston lost on purpose. There are facts pointing towards both sides of the argument, and it is still inconclusive

Muhammad Ali was a very cocky man, predicting his own fights and even saying he’ll break Floyd Patterson’s all time record. On page 27 of More Than a Champion Ali says, “ I’ll be the next heavyweight champ. I’m going to break Floyd Patterson’s record.” Ali was in fact the first man to win the World Championship three times. The word around town was that Muhammad Ali is the next big thing. Ali’s first “big fight” was against Sonny Liston. As the underdog, Ali wins in seven rounds with a KO( knock out) to secure the win. Win after win Ali started his own campaign, he wanted to cause attention for better fights to happen. On page 29 of More Than a Champion it says, “ The main slogan of the campaign was I am the Greatest!”

     When we think of boxing, we usually think of the gloves, the mouthpiece, the ring. When we think of past boxers, we can think of boxers like Muhammad Ali or George Foreman. There are present boxers like “Bite” Tyson and his colleague Evander “Holyears”. Boxing has been considered by many as a brutal sport, a sport for beasts, as many non- boxing fans would say. Mike Tyson has given credit to all this talk by boxing with his mouth and not with his hands. With Mike Tyson’s cannibalism and his boxing license being in jeopardy, his next opponent can be an alligator or a paraná fish.

Perhaps one of the greatest fights ever was the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier known as the "Thrilla in Manila." Inside the ring, these two boxing giants went at it for 14 rounds, leaving nothing behind, to try and prove who was the better fighter. But even before they stepped foot in the squared circle, leading up to the fight there was a lot of trash talk going around as to who would win and who would be the greatest fighter of all

Walters has come a long way from boxing in an imaginary ring in the streets of Roehampton in rural St James to become the latest on the list of Jamaican world boxing champions. He has had some bumps and bruises along the way, but his decision to quit half way through his biggest fight of his career on the grandest stage, will be a hard bump to recover from, and will leave Walters and all of us wondering what might have been, and what could have

As a result of choosing a career in boxing, people become more confident in themselves, it teaches them how to manage their adrenaline, it teaches discipline, and it reminds them of their morality. All of which could really change a person’s life. “In boxing, they say it's the punch you don't see coming that knocks you out. In the wider world, the reality we ignore or deny is the one that weakens our most impassioned efforts toward improvement”, said Katherine Dunn. This just goes to show that choosing boxing as a career can really change and improve one’s life, as long as you want it

The fight described above is perhaps Ali’s most iconic fight known as “The Rumble in the Jungle” and it was nothing short of the name. The fight was between the George Foreman, the undefeated 25-year-old heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and Muhammad Ali, the former heavyweight champion who had lost his belt when he was accused of draft dodging and had his boxing license revoked. For many it seemed clear that the champion would emerge victorious for a multitude of reasons. George Foreman was not a force to be reckoned with and coming into the fight felt extremely confident even saying in a later interview, after the passing of Muhammad Ali, “… for me, I though, could be the easiest money I’d ever get in boxing.” Although Foreman was facing arguably the greatest fighter of all time he was extremely confident leading into the fight after defeating Joe Frazier, who had beaten Ali before, to seize the heavyweight belt and then defended the belt against Ken Norton, another fighter who had defeated Ali, whom he knockout in the second round. For Foreman, it seemed like a golden opportunity to further display his