Before and After Deer Lake Part three

Slides.

Remember slides?

You'd throw your slides into a Kodak Carousel and voila...a slide show up against the wall.

Needless to say I threw quite a few slides against quite a few walls over the years as I told my Ali stories.

I liked one of the slides in particular.

I made a nice 11 by 14 print from that negative.

We all got older as the years passed. It seemed like Ali and Joe got older faster than everybody else. What else could we have expected?

During this time of great decline, George Chuvalo added to the pugilistic tragedy.

George Chuvalo

The Croatian Crusader.

The Heavyweight Champion of Canada.

The human punching bag and common opponent for the vastly more talented Ali and Frazier.

The man who could not be knocked down.

The man whose face had launched a thousand fists.

George Chuvalo had a face that had been sculpted by other fists into the face of a fist.

And then after George retired, life stepped in and continued the battering.

He lost his wife and sons to suicide. Heroin was very involved.

Still George refused to hit the canvas.

Word got through to his old opponents, Ali and Joe, that George was hurt and staggering but that he refused to go down.

A boxing organization in Rochester decided to throw a benefit dinner for George. Yeah it was a band aid on a shotgun wound but every little bit helps.

Joe Frazier decided to attend and waive any fee.

So did another wounded warrior name of Muhammad Ali.

Ali was shaking from Parkinsons and Joe could barely see.

Joe and Ali didn't usually appear together.

Bad blood existed.

People wondered why after all these years bad blood still existed between Ali and Frazier.

The answer is simple. These guys tried to kill each other three times in front of the whole world and they damned near succeeded.

He jest at scars who's never felt a wound.

There was a lot of laughter that night but nobody was laughing at the scars.

I was there too.

The Chuvalo benefit cost a hundred bucks to attend. My ringside seat at Ali-Frazier fight also cost $100.

So much had changed.

One thing hadn't changed.

The 11 by 14 photograph that I took at Ali Frazier 2 looked exactly the same. The two of them stalking each other in the middle of the ring, youg and heallthy and with all the lights shining on them.

I brought the picture to the benefit.

Stay tuned,