Jimmy Ellis vs. George Chuvalo This content is protected Note: Ellis comes is in a light 191 lbs. 1971-05-10 : Jimmy Ellis 191 lbs beat George Chuvalo 218½ lbs by UD in round 10 of 10 Location: Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Referee: Sammy Luftspring 48-46 Judge: Jackie Silvers 48-44 Judge: Tony Canzano 49-43 Ellis vs. Chuvalo was the second fight in a closed-circuit heavyweight triple-header. In the first bout, Ernie Terrell defeated Luis Faustino Pires by a 10-round unanimous decision in Chicago, Illinois. In the finale, George Foreman defeated Gregorio Peralta by a 10th-round TKO in Oakland, California. From The Associated Press: Ellis, 31, of Louisville, Ky., went into the fight at 191 pounds compared to Chuvalo's 218½, and proved to be the faster fighter. Ellis went to the attack quickly, scoring with left jabs and right hooks which opened a cut over Chuvalo's left eye in the second round. Referee Sammy Luftspring took a look at the cut but did not stop the fight. Ellis continued to work on the cut and by the fifth round Chuvalo sported four cuts around the eye. His speed was the determining factor in his 29th victory out of 35 professional fights. It wasn't until the eighth round that Chuvalo began to crowd Ellis. Several times in the eighth and ninth rounds he rocked Ellis with flurries of punches. The crowd of about 6,000 at Maple Leaf Gardens was screaming for Chuvalo to finish off Ellis but the Kentucky fighter kept backing off and throwing left jabs. It was the 33-year-old Chuvalo's 85th professional fight. He has won 66 of them. Both fighters were guaranteed $15,000.
Ellis is an amazing overlooked story — kind of a journeyman middleweight IIRC who moved up to heavyweight and had quite the career with the big boys.
I checked this out about a year ago and totally enjoyed it. 5 point must scoring system in effect. Here is what I wrote at the time Round 1: 5-4 Ellis Round 2: 5-4 Ellis Round 3: 5-4 Chuvalo Round 4: 5-5 Even Round 5: 5-4 Chuvalo Round 6: 5-4 Ellis Round 7: 5-4 Chuvalo Round 8: 5-4 Ellis Round 9: 5-5 Even Round 10: 5-4 Ellis Total: 47-45 Ellis Notes: 1) Ellis really was an underrated fighter and puncher. His right hand was so sharp and - I've never heard this reported before but - that slip by Chuvalo in the 1st round...well, let's just say there are some refs that would have scored that a knockdown. Just from body language in that 1st round one can see Chuvalo was rattled by those rights. Very sharp and very pinpoint. 2) Rounds 9 & 10 they really let it hang out. Really good rounds. 3) The scorecard of Tony Canzano had it really wide for Ellis. I think something like 7-1-2, which is ridiculous. Canzano was a Canadian judge and I think he was always overcompensating, trying to show his impartiality. I remember him in the Jose Napoles-Clyde Gray fight and again had the biggest score for the visitor. Either that or he just had a thing for Irv Ungerman fighters.
I just had another look. I don´t score even rounds if I can help it, so I came up with 47 - 43 Ellis. Chuvalo got away with too many rabbit punchers for my liking, but that was his style.
Woller, I just went to youtube to reexamine that 1st round slip again and I see it has been taken down or I'm not looking correctly. I love the color highlight reel, but the one I saw a year ago was a sort of grainy black and white, but it was in its entirety. The highlight reel doesn't contain that 'slip'. Wish I could see that again. It was really 'iffy'. Have you seen the full version?
Hi Scartissue Yes, I have the full, but grainy B/W version of the fight. I see the situation as a slip, and the body language of Chuvalo, Ellis and the referee tells that it is not a knock down.
