Sports Beat

Thirty-six years after their famous heavyweight title bout, Muhammad Ali and George Chuvalo shared the stage at Toronto's SkyDome on Sunday night at a Parkinson's Society of Canada fundraiser in conjunction with a CFL game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Ottawa Renegades. The attendees—who included Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes—caught a first glimpse of the fight documentary The Last Round. The film reexamines the March 29, 1966, bout at Maple Leaf Gardens in which Ali beat Chuvalo, Canada's home-grown heavyweight contender, in a 15-round decision. Ali has called it his toughest fight. "People thought Chuvalo would go only three, maybe four rounds with Ali," says The Last Round director Joseph Blasioli. "Those 15 rounds extended Chuvalo's career another 15 years."

?While in Toronto, Lewis addressed rumors that he had signed on to face pro wrestling champ Brock Lesnar in a WWE pay-per-view event. At a press conference Lewis denied that he'll be tangling with Lesnar, but said he had talked to WWE boss Vince McMahon "about a relationship, whether it be guest refereeing or something of that nature."

?One of NASCAR's most ardent groupies is no stranger to groupies himself: Kid Rock. During the rain-delayed Winston Cup race in Concord, N.C., on Oct. 13, NBC pit reporter Matt Yocum found Rock hanging out in driver Tony Stewart's trailer and asked if he'd play a song to kill some airtime. "Let me go grab a guitar," Rock replied. He wound up performing an acoustic rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's melodic Dixie paean. All I Can Do Is Write about It, with harmonica help from Jimmie Bones (the keyboardist from the Twisted Brown Trucker Band). Rock and his fianc�e, Pam Anderson, were also Stewart's guests at a race in Bristol, Tenn., last March.

?Maybe you caught Giants defensive end Frank Ferrara's performance on Oct. 13, when in his first career start he roughed up the Falcons with a forced fumble, nine tackles and 1� sacks. The hard-hitting style that won him a spot on New York's roster as an undrafted free agent out of Rhode Island also serves him well in his other career—as a stuntman. The 6'3", 280-pound Ferrara, 26, has done stunt work in about a dozen movies including Die Hard with a Vengeance and Meet Joe Black, and he'll play a security guard in the upcoming Anger Management with Adam Sandler. "It's tough work," Ferrara says. "Guys get broken bones, concussions, burns." Ferrara, who made his movie debut as a 10-year-old in 1986 when he dodged a truck in F/X, got into the biz through his father, Frank Sr., a stunt coordinator who is James Gandolfini's double in The Sopranos.

?Lions rookie quarterback Joey Harrington is taking abuse from teammates for getting cheeky with Cosmopolitan. In the November issue, Harrington appears as one of the "50 Hottest Hunks in the U.S." and reveals that "touching a woman's face and putting my face against hers excite me. Soft cheeks are so appealing." That prompted reactions from Detroit guard Tony Semple ("I'm just going to pretend I didn't see this") to quarterbacks Ty Detmer ("So he's really in touch with his feminine side") and Mike McMahon ("The cheek is definitely not the favorite part of the female body for me"). Harrington says he just wanted to help the organization. "What I was trying to do was reach out to a demographic that wouldn't usually watch football."