The Last Round: Chuvalo vs Ali
***/****
directed by Joseph Blasioli
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover A look at the crazy, labyrinthine ways of boxing as seen through the eyes of Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo. Ostensibly about the day in 1966 when he went head-to-head with Muhammad Ali and managed to last the full 15 rounds, it follows the contours of his career as he strives for the world championship belt. A precocious, driven athlete, he becomes Canadian champion at an early age and sets his sights on the world–but the world has other ideas for him, and his yearning for a title shot is constantly frustrated. After a depressing string of ups and downs, including a bad decision at an important bout with Floyd Patterson, the politics of both the sport and the world land him in the ring with The Greatest–a story so bizarre that it can't be properly described here. This non-fan has never understood the strange political finagling by which boxers get into fights, and this film didn't help me–if anything, it makes them seem more surreal, especially as subjected to the hapless, can't-get-a-break Chuvalo. But as our hero inches towards his goal, even as he is buffeted by the waves of misfortune, his saga is undeniably fascinating, as is the ridiculous string of events that force a besieged Ali out of America and right into Chuvalo's lap. It's a quintessentially Canadian story of frustrated ambitions and blighted dreams, and it's definitely worth a look.
