Canadian Boxer Pulls No Punches
George Chuvalo pulled no punches as a former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion, and he wasnt pulling any in his recent visit to Clarkson Secondary School in Missisauga, either. Chuvalo was visiting the school to give a lecture on the subject of Canadian drugs, something he knows about only too well, having lost not one, not two but three children to the deadly addiction. His wife, unable to cope with the shocking tragedies, ended up taking her own life.
None of my sons could beat drugs, Chuvalo told the assembled students. How does this happen? The seventy three year old retired former champion showed the students eighteen minutes of an episode of the CBC program Fifth Estate, which interviewed Chuvalo, his wife and one of his sons following the deaths of other sons, Jessie, a Canada drug addict who took his own life in 1985, and Georgie Lee. Shockingly, one of those sons, Steven, died of a Canada drug overdose exactly in the same manner as Georgie Lee, just eight months after the program went to air in the December of 1995. I was inhaling grief, Chuvalo remembers. You cant believe your son is dead. He told the students that Jessie and Georgie would crave heroin so intently that they would defecate in their underwear. My sons, if they were here, theyd say doing drugs is insane, the former boxer noted, telling the students to avoid Canadian drugs and keep to their education to get a better life. If it werent for love, I wouldnt be here today, he said. Love makes you feel strong, secure, appreciated and important. Love is at the core of happiness.
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