Great article ending up in the eventual Ali-Chuvalo fight (also some great comments to Ali vs Liston 2 sham "fight". http://www.cbc.ca/sportslongform/entry/ali-vs-chuvalo-brutality-beauty-mingled-in-truly-epic-brawl By 1963 Chuvalo had worked his way up to a big fight one that cemented his heavyweight contender status. The bout was in Muhammad Alis hometown, Louisville, Ky. Chuvalo versus the lanky heavyweight Mike DeJohn. Round 1, Chuvalo came out hard. DeJohn got hurt. Chuvalo went harder. Second round was a scene that still horrifies to this day. Chuvalo punched DeJohn til he went slack. DeJohn was bent backwards over the ropes, half outside the ring. Chuvalo kept punching like a steamshovel at the partly conscious man. Its hard to watch. Blows crashed onto the body that was d****d, dangling in front of Chuvalo. It got worse. Three times the ref picked DeJohn up off the canvas, revived him, then began the standing count. The fight continued. DeJohn got every break in the books, and then some, but Chuvalo beat him stone cold. It was a shocking punishment that Chuvalo unleashed on the No. 6 fighter in the world. Ali had a contract in place to fight the winner of the Chuvalo-DeJohn bout. He watched the fight closely. No one ever called Ali a coward, but he was no masochist, either. After he digested Chuvalos work in the ring, Muhammad Ali thought better of that contract. He decided he would have no part of a Chuvalo match. He bowed out. Pent up anticipation of a fight between the two began. Even if it was only in Georges mind.
Thats Canadas version of events. Ali was no DeJohn. He took Chuvalo on short notice and won something like 12 rounds out of 15. Hard to envision a situation where a guy as fleet as Ali feared a guy as limited as Chuvalo. In reality George was about as perfect an opponent for Ali as he could hope for. Its not like the book hadnt been written on Chuvalo yet. The guy was handily outboxed by Pete Rademacher and Eduardo Corletti for christ sakes.
However Chuvalo beat the **** out of Ali. After the fight Ali went to the hospital for a day ****ing blood and coughing blood Chuvalo went dancing
I firmly believe anyone COUGHING blood would be kept in hospital for longer than one day for sure. Generally speaking if you are coughing blood, you have lung problems.
Ali ducked nobody, but George gave him some tough fights. Watched their 2nd fight a couple of weeks ago and George did really well in it. Check it out
Ali beat Chuvalo easier the second time around than the first. Neither fight was close. In 27 rounds you might find three or four to give to Chuvalo.
I think Cassius Clay admitted he was bissing blood after the fight. The article basically is interesting because of a different perspective from the "other" guy's fans...plus the comments by Chuvalo that he & many there in Lewiston thought Liston did take a dive.
Hard to say. The important point is that he still had a range of options. You can’t be accused of ducking the #7 contender, if you fought the #5.
The big mistake people make is blaming the kid. Most fighters will take on any fighter left to their own devices, yet its proberbly just as well their management dont allow it. How would they reach a potential if each fight is tough? Boxers with championship potential are a heavily invested in asset. Only what somebody thinks is worth the investment gets that investment. Serious money is riding on them to get as far as they can clocking up as fewer miles as possible. For their own good all prospects are navigated away from unnecessarily hard fights during the development stage. All of them. Chuvalo was never a threat. It's just easier fights and a higher rating could be had without fighting the Canadian.
That is a very good point chok! Young up and coming fighters throughout the years were guided cautiously until they approached prime. Why blame Clay at that time plus, as you said, it wasn't his decision. He was given Jones and Cooper prior to Sonny and both let him know that he needed to get some more 'smarts' if he was to progress to Greatness. Chuvalo, as much as I like him, has always been a 'whiner' to this day. Outside of the Quarry 'anamoly' for lack of a better word (and he was getting his bloody ass handed to him in that one) what top contender did George EVER beat? IMO the one fighter that Angie DID avoid before Sonny was Eddie Machen. Slick Eddie may well have copped a decision against young Cassius in early 63 but that wasn't going to happen for all the reasons mentioned before. Back to thread: Clay did not avoid Chuvalo, heck he probably would have UD'd him anyway on wide points.
Chuvalo, heck he probably would have UD'd him anyway on wide points.[/quote] Per the article. since they had a signed contract, wonder why they didn't fight then?