Tragedy Revisits Former Boxer -- Wife's Apparent Suicide Follows Son's Overdose

TORONTO - Tragedy once again consumed the household of former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion George Chuvalo with the apparent suicide yesterday of his wife, Lynne.

Just two days earlier, the family buried George Chuvalo Jr., who died of a suspected heroin overdose Sunday in a Toronto hotel room.

Police said Lynne Chuvalo, 49, was found in her bed early yesterday afternoon by a family member - not her husband.

Friends and relatives began streaming into the Chuvalo home early in the evening, some weeping and others bearing flowers, as the news spread. Chuvalo, 55, remained in the house with the curtains drawn, sending out emissaries to ask reporters to leave.

In a brief appearance earlier in the day, he told a television reporter that despite his devastation, he had to hang on for the rest of his family.

It was the third family tragedy to strike Chuvalo, a boxing legend for his gritty bouts with world champions, including Muhammad Ali. The first was eight years ago, when the couple's youngest son, Jesse, took his life at the age of 20.

Ed Zawadzki, a boxing promoter and friend of the family, broke down repeatedly last night as he stood outside the home and tried to articulate what Chuvalo and his remaining children have been through. Chuvalo is strong and resilient, Zawadzki said, but he can take only so much grief.

The remaining children of the Chuvalo family are Vanessa, 25; Steven, 32; and Mitchell, 33.

Jesse Chuvalo, who had been left with emotional scars from a disfiguring childhood accident, fatally shot himself in 1985.

Only recently did the family come close to finding peace.

"They really never got over it," Zawadzski said.

Last week, George Jr., 30, and Steven were released from prison after three armed robberies in which they stole narcotics from pharmacies. A few days later, George Jr. was found dead with a needle in his arm.

"It never stops," his father said in a cracking voice after the body was found. "I must have been a bad guy in a former life."

Police sources said that Lynne Chuvalo left a suicide note and told her husband that she would overdose on pills if she ever decided to take her life.

For a time in the 1960s, Chuvalo was the toast of the Canadian sporting world. Besides Ali, he went toe to toe with Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Chuvalo compiled a 79-15-2 record with 70 knockouts and became renowned for his ability to absorb punches and remain standing.

Chuvalo blamed his wife for his loss to Foreman in 1970. Toward the end of the bout she ran to the ring, screaming uncontrollably for the referee to stop the fight. Lynne Chuvalo always had difficulty accepting her husband's choice of career.

"You're only so much meat," she once said. "You're treated like a nobody. The kids come home and it's - it's terrible. `Your dad's no good, your father's a bum.' Kids want to fight them because they're Chuvalos."