1965 George Chuvalo vs 1934 Max Baer primes

Max Baer fought some tough men during his career. At the age of 20, five years before his 1934 peak, he lost a 20-round decision to Paolino Uzcudun. He later stopped Tom Heeney and near the end of his career stopped Tony Galento. Chuvalo and Baer were very tough men who could take heavy punishment and dish it out as well. Both had good endurance, capable of going the distance. But Baer had the superior punch and I believe that is what makes the difference in this fight. A rough-and-tumble fight to be sure, and I envision Baer pounding out a UD or scoring a late round TKO.

P.S. I don't think Chuvalo would have won over Foreman if the fight had been allowed to go on. While an argument could be made that it was stopped a few seconds too soon, an equal or stronger argument could be made that had it continued much longer Chuvalo could have been seriously hurt. Foreman did not appear to be gassed at the time of stoppage and looked to have plenty of fight still in him.

 

Equal chins
Power Baer
Hand speed chuvalo (slightly)
Size baer
Reach baer
Footwork chuvalo

Baer wins this but I'm not placing money on him either

 

Hell to the No.

 

No, hell yes

 

Took the words out of my mouth. Chuvalo moved like he was wearing cement shoes and was slow of thought and handspeed.

 

Baer. Chuvalo was very limited and was not a championship calibre fighter in any era IMO. He simply wasnt that class and managed to lose, throughout his career, to people no championship calibre fighter should have. Its one of the easier picks in my opinion. I dont think a prime Baer was any worse than Bonavena, Rademacher, Cleroux, or Corletti, all who beat Chuvalo. I also dont think Alongi who drew with Chuvalo was better. Chuvalos two best wins were against Doug Jones, a lhw, and Quarry which was a fluke. Jones not better than Baer and Im not even sure Quarry was either and Quarry beat the hell out of Chuvalo. On the flip side I dont think Chuvalo was any better than Heeney, Levinsky, Schaaf, Schmeling, or even Carnera, several other guys Baer beat. Chuvalo was a very solid lower tier gatekeeper, nothing more. Baer may not have been consistent but at his best he beat gatekeepers and even champions. Chuvalo cant really say the same.

 

Sums it up and I'm not a huge Baer fan but Chuvalo is just not the same class of fighter

 

Then you frankly dont know what you are seeing.

 

Baer was a class or two above Chuvalo.

He should win this if he is on any sort of form.

 

If he was "on" Baer but he had problems with Uzcudun ,you never know what version of Maxie would turn up.

 

I agree with the old fellow here. Baer was hot and cold either side of (and during) his championship foray.

Uzcudun was probably better than Chuvalo.

 

This is true but it specifies "prime" so Im picking the best version of each fighter and I just never thought much of Chuvalo on his best day