Cleveland Williams vs George Chuvalo: Prime for Prime

Williams was just a level above Chuvalo at their respective bests. Chuvalo was more at the level of Alex Miteff who Williams absolutely dominated, and Chuvalo went 1-0-1 against, and under fair scorecards would've been 0-2.

Call me crazy, but I've never been super impressed with Chuvalo's chin. 2 out of 3 big punchers he faced, were extremely green and stopped him early. The 3rd was on his last legs and still buckled his knees and according to Chuvalo himself, it was the hardest he'd ever been hit. Williams may very well get a stoppage, but a decision is a safe pick.

 

The guy who lost to a like 5-3-5 fighter around the time Clev beat him is the equal of Chuvalo?

 

You're right. Pretty pathetic Chuvalo couldn't even decisively beat a guy like that (something Williams and Ali easily did) and would've been 0-2 with a fair referee. Excellent point!

 

When they did actually fight in 71, Cleve and George were 34 and 38 respectively.

Both with tough careers behind them but we know the further wear and tear and deterioration experienced by Williams post gun shot wound.

No slight on Chuvalo but I think, given a superior skill set, Cleve stood to lose more from his peak over time.

As it was in their actual fight, the most glaring feature was Big Cats loss of stamina, speed and reflex. When he did punch however, he was highly effective, damaging and did in fact back Chuvalo up but it was all too infrequent.

I could see a prime Cleve being active enough to lay on a lot more physical damage - and the more punching Cleve is doing, Chuvalo will be doing that much less.

KO or stop Chuvalo. Who knows? But the power he laid on Chuvalo at times was very Foremanesque - if a peak Williams could seriously up the ante and maintain the output from first bell - it would be interesting.

 

Honestly, kidding aside I’m not sure who’s actually better but both are very, very mediocre.

 

Do you always have to blow my posts out of the water?

 

Haha - I certainly don’t think so Swag but it’s all for a common good, affording Big Cat his just dues.

 

It’s a 50-50 fight for Williams at best. Comparisons are made between their respective results against Alex Miteff. Which is hardly fair.

against Miteff, George was but 20 years old at that time and less experienced than Williams was at exactly the same age when he was demolished by light heavyweight Bob Satterfield.

I believe Chuvalos prime KO win over Doug Jones eclipsed Williams outpointing Billy Daniels in his prime. A fight where Williams spent too long waiting around and failing to close the show. This is a more significant comparison.

Chuvalo is hardly great. But Williams would give him a fight.

 

To answer your post, I think he certainly had the stamina to maintain his pace.

If you watch the bout against Terrell, he was the one who had the stamina in the late rounds.

A rare example of a puncher having the endurance advantage over a boxer.

 

This is a lie. Chuvalo had a decorated amateur career including winning heavyweight champion of Canada, by the time he'd faced Miteff. Williams had no such advantage.

Miteff also turned pro at the same time as Chuvalo while Satterfield "had a huge edge in experience" over Williams as the promotor noted, having fought for just under 10 years, to Williams 2 and Williams was also a last minute replacement. How many times do we have to go through this? https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=MkRCSU1TY1dfWFJSMWhVRUc4dTBWNWN5dzF2SXBB

Also, was Chuvalo 20 years old when he won a razor thin SD by a half point against Miteff in his hometown where the referee failed to deduct a low blow from him (as the referee in the first fight did from Miteff costing him the fight) which would've made Miteff the winner, or was he 23 years old and a ranked contender?

You realize when Chuvalo beat Jones, Jones was coming off a loss to Billy Daniels, who was also a last second replacement right?

 

It’s too bad the film quality of Williams v Chuvalo isn’t so great. I would think they could apply the same technologies to it as they do the very old films to make it make it that much more clear and viewable. For the longest time it used to be only be available on British Pathe before making it to You Tube.

 

yes I realise Daniels beat Jones by split decision after having already lost to Jones. But Chuvalo knocked Jones out. First guy to do it. So how is this a minus?

I don’t know where you are going with this…listen. Chuvalo was 20 years old , a 14-2 kid fighting a ranked opponent who was coming off a career best win over Nino Valdes and had only ever lost one other time. A guy within a pound of his own size who lacked no ambition at all at that time. And Chuvalo still nearly knocked him out.

Williams was also 20 years old but at 33-1 you could say he was fighting a more washed up guy in Bob Satterfield a guy some 25 pounds lighter, who had lost two of his three fights that year including a crushing knockout to Ezzard Charles. Yet Williams was demolished.

I guess Chuvalo would rather fight a ten year older guy, a 25lb lighter guy than he was, who had lost two of three fights that year?

If he can’t get past 25lb lighter Satterefield after 34 fights Why would 20 year old Williams do any better against miteff?

 

About as even of a fight as you can make I would think. I went with Cleveland by a decision but who knows ?