3 chuvalo fights that never happened

Was Shavers stamina that bad in his prime? He did go 15 with Ali. I think Shavers stops Chavalo the same way Foreman and Frazier did. By whacking him hard with Chavlao standing up / not throwing much back.

 

Shavers would fight anyone but his management must have had an epiphany of sorts. Let's see our guy lost to Ron Stander after hitting him with his best shots. He gassed and was stopped. He was wiped out by Quarry and got his attention early but still was kayoed. Now he's going to fight the guy with the best chin and stamina in the business? A crude fighter - yes. But still someone who is a stylistic nightmare for Earnie. I not sure why it fell through but it was a good thing for Shavers.

 

I was only a few months old but I saw the replay of the knockout. Chuvalo's corner I believe, or maybe the ring doc, was seriously considering stopping it because Chuvalo's eyes were mere slits and rapidly closing completely. Quarry got caught on top of his head with a wild counter and lost his equilibrium. He claims he lost the ref's count and rose a split-second too late. Quarry claimed he had a brain fart for a second and it was a fluke. Chuvalo, on the other hand, made a quip about how the punch must have been pretty hard if it caused Quarry to miss the count. Quarry never got a rematch.

 

Bad enough.

It was more of Ali going 15 with Shavers, really. Shavers batted him around early and then Ali came on strong towards the end and almost TKO'ed Shavers towards the end.

 

Yeah, won all four by KO too.

 

I think Chuvalo beats Shavers like Stander, Stallings and Cobb did.

 

These fights Jake mentions, with the exception of London, aren't really fair representations of the fighter's abilities.

London? I'm assuming a mid-sixties matchup...George would probably walk right thru Brian.

Liston? A post-Wepner Sonny would have been a wasted shell. Better to look at the Sonny that would have defended his title against Chuvalo had he won the rematch with Ali. That Liston would have busted George up!

Shavers? If your talking post-Quarry Shavers Big George would have been 36-37 years old by then in with an Earnie who was just stepping up into top-tier competition. To hold the Stander fight against a young Shavers is like holding the Garcia fight against a young Norton.
Prime Chuvalo vs. Prime Shavers could go either way. George could take everything Earnie threw and stop him late or get a decision against a tiring Earnie as George wasn't a super "finisher". Or Shavers might bust him open and force a stoppage; I really don't have an opinion either way. Might lean towards a Chuvalo victory.

My $0.02

 

Yeah, for sure.

 

Maybe.
But there's a string running through the Stander, Stallings and Cobb fights that suggests even the crudest, hard-headed tough guys - and they NEED to have hard heads - could take what Shavers dished out and get the upper hand in the fight. Those were strong, squat, brick-headed bruisers, but not much else. They weren't even hyped "white hopes", despite having the right skin pigmentation.
Chuvalo was just as tough, and, IMO, a better fighter.