Let’s head back to May 1972 when a Ladner teen got the thrill of a lifetime getting to meet two boxing greats.
Archie Demosten, 13, a budding boxer himself, met Muhammad Ali and George Chuvalo, both preparing for a rematch at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum that month.
Ali had previously fought Chuvalo, a Canadian, in an epic bout in March 1966 at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. Chuvalo withstood everything Ali threw at him but lost unanimous decisions on points in both matches.
Demosten told the Optimist a photographer called his home and told him to be at the Georgia Hotel in Vancouver for pictures with the two heavyweights.
Demosten was a member of the Ladner Boxing Club.
He had won decisions over a pair of opponents in the 85-pound class in the B.C. Winter Games trials in Vancouver the previous November. Those wins earned him a berth in the finals at Prince George but because there were no more comers in his weight class, he fought in the 90-pound weight class.
Although he didn’t win his two bouts in that weight class, he said he figured he learned a lot from the experience.
