Best & Worst Experience Meeting An Athlete

[Writehooks]

Two fighters top my list: Muhammad Ali and George Chuvalo.

I was 22 years old, covering my first big fight -- Ali-Spinks II -- in New Orleans in 1978. After virtually everyone else had left the final media conference in the Hilton ballroom, I was still hanging around, savoring the moment. When Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer, noticed from the press credential hanging around my neck that I was from a Canadian newspaper, he immediately recounted how well the Toronto press had treated Ali when he fought Chuvalo at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1966. He then asked if I would like to meet the champ. Before I could fully comprehend what was happening, I was sitting in the living room of Ali's palatial suite, chatting with The Greatest like we were old pals. Dundee and Ali's brother were also there. Ali couldn't have been more gracious -- even going so far as to ask if I was satisfied with my press row seat allocation for the fight, which was two nights later. "If you don't like where you're sittin', we can get it changed," he said. Incredible.
Although I was a huge fan, I never got to meet Chuvalo in person until 1986, when he was training heavyweight contender Razor Ruddock. George, who retired in 1979 with a record of 73-18-2 (64 KOs), is the only man to fight Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. He held the Canadian title for 21 years, and at the peak of his career was ranked No 2 in the world. A 30-year friendship blossomed from that first meeting, and in 2012 he asked me to co-author his memoir ("Chuvalo: A Fighter's Life"), which was published by HarperCollins in 2014 and has topped 50,000 in sales.

Honorable mentions: Mike Tyson (very interesting guy to talk to, and very polite) and George Foreman.

Biggest jerks: Sugar Ray Leonard (total asshole) and Bill Cosby (pretty much what you would expect).