But he also would like them to know that he was more than just one of the many victims of Ali's flair and skill.

"When people think of me, they think of me fighting Muhammad," he said. "It's hard for them to think of anything else. But I had close to 100 fights. The perception of me is as a tough guy who could take a shot. I was supposed to have the best chin in boxing. It clouds my other abilities."

From his first fight in 1956, a second-round knockout of Gordon Baldwin, to his third-round KO of George Jerome in 1978, Chuvalo compiled a record of 73 wins (64 by knockout), 18 losses and two draws. He even fought once in Hamilton, on Oct. 24, 1970, at the old Forum, and beat Tommy Burns by KO in the first round.

Although he was stopped short of the distance by Foreman and Joe Frazier, he was never knocked down in the ring. It is one of the first issues he deals with in the book.

"Today, most people think I was a tough guy who took a good rap, which is fine," he writes. "But I was a much better defensive fighter than I ever got credit for. I didn't get hit with half the punches people think I did. If that were true, I'd be walking around on my heels today. Nobody's that tough."

Chuvalo never won a world title, losing to Ernie Terrell in his only attempt in 1965, a fight he feels was fixed by mobsters. But he was Canadian champion for most of 17 years, back when that title still mattered. And one of his favourite funny stories was about how he became champion of Haiti in 1972.

He was voted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997. There was also a statue of him erected in his ancestral hometown in Bosnia.

But his defining moment was in Toronto on March 29, 1966, when he stood up to Ali's brilliance for 15 rounds and became a national hero simply for not going down. He did the same over 12 rounds in a rematch in Vancouver six years later.

Perhaps ironically, Chuvalo feels Ali had the best chin of any opponent he faced, along with being the best boxer of all time. He names Foreman and Mike DeJohn as the hardest punchers he encountered.

He left the painful stories of his family for last. No blood in the ring was quite as gruesome as finding a son dead in a hotel room with a needle in his arm, or of his first wife Lynne succumbing to despair and taking her own life. He spares no details.

Chuvalo has since remarried, and he visits schools across Canada to deliver an anti-drug message.

Somehow, he maintains a positive approach to life, concentrating on his two remaining children and his grandkids. Even then, he dedicates the book to his granddaughter Rachel Chuvalo, who died of cancer last year.

The fighter's life has been a tough one indeed, in and out of the ring.

The Canadian Press