Norton vs Chuvalo

Norton, Chuvalo never really impressed me

 

Norton via wide, hardfought decision. Norton would have to fight off the backfoot, but he really only got demolished by arguably the top 3 hardest punchers of all time in Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney, who were all terrible match ups for him.

This fight would probably resemble the Cobb fight, with Norton being pressed to the ropes and corners, but still fighting effectively and nullifying Chuavlo's aggression as much as possible. Chuvalo would be game throughout and would be always pressuring and trying, but Norton was simply a class above Chuvalo. Chuvalo hit hard, but he wasn't the devastating puncher that Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney were. He wouldn't be able to just walk in and demolish Norton with his punches the way the Foreman, Shavers, and Cooney did. He would outmuslce and likely out throw Norton, but Norton would be landing the harrder, cleaner, and more effective punches while repeatedly landing stiff jabs.

 

:good

 

Chuvalo would lose to Norton in the same way that he lost to Ellis, Mathis, Ali, Bonavena, Patterson, etc., in that classic way of being effectively outmaneuvered, more cleanly outpunched and outboxed. Norton wouldn't come close to decking Chuvalo and would land the more effective punches, and Chuvalo would maul Norton to the ropes and out strength him, but never land anything of note.

 

Norton ud

 

Vic Brown. 28-28 had Norton down. Chuvalo destroyed Brown.

 

Kenny Norton by UD.

 

I think George Chuvalo gets a poor rap these days. A lot of posts make him out to be some plodding, cumbersome sponge. Watch his fight with Patterson, which is IMO the Chuvalo prime. He fought Patterson to the wire in a kickass fight. Also, his fights with Ali and Terrell were 15 rounders where he was still flying in the 15th. He was always in shape and always willing to give it his all. Now, having said that, I too would pick Norton by decision over 15 with them both in their primes, but it would be damn close in a damn good fight.

 

This is a very interesting fight but I think that George was simply too slow and Ken would decision him ...

 

Chuvalo could take a punch but he was never as offensivelt punishing as he was able to take a punch. He was the homer simpson of the 60s

 

Well said.

 

Norton wide decision. Listen to previous posters. I like Chuvalo and he would give any HW in any era one hell of a scrap but....outside of the Quarry 'weird' ending fight, where Jerry had him (In Howard Cossell's words) a bloody, pulpy, mess, show me ONE quality win he had in his entire career? And don't go bringing up the Doug Jones fight, I've heard enough of that from the various George 'nuthuggers' on board. Unless Chuvalo could trap you on the ropes, land his huge body shots along with a big shot to the head, he was toast against any 'Class' opposition and his resume supports what I've said.
A class guy who had to go thru tremendous losses in his life, can we not put his career in reasonable perspective?

 

Next best might be his final major win over Cleveland Williams [the Big Cat's final defeat, on youtube].

We can [and I think we have here], but having some dissenting opinions does give some life to threads like these. The consensus in favor of a Norton decision seems pretty clear cut, but that doesn't mean it would not be an enjoyable scrap. Patterson-Chuvalo was Ring's FOTY for 1965. George did not utilize an approach which would allow Ken long stretches of following without punching. Chuvalo would make him fight, and make Norton earn it honestly. It could be another FOTY candidate.

 

Greetings Anubis! A good post but "Big Cat" was 'toast' at that point.
George wasn't a bleeder, but he was a 'puff up oozer' and Norton had the skills to exploit that and, as I said, Chuvalo wasn't a huge puncher unless he had you right in his 'wheelhouse'.
But I agree it could have been a good scrap, but IMO Ken simply had too much skill and George had too little numbing KO power.

 

For all intents and purposes, he was 'Big Toast' after his shooting, but still did well to sustain his career as long as he did. Incredibly, the closing stages of Cleve's career may have been when his stamina and late round power were at their best [precisely because of his athletic deterioration combined with 20 years of compensating experience], and he followed up Chuvalo with the only 12 round decision of his career, a win over Terry Daniels [coming off his swamping by Frazier] to replace Daniels as the Texas State HW Champion. [A lightly regarded regional title perhaps, but he was the third straight holder of that distinction to have also challenged for the World Title, after Ziggy and Daniels himself. Roy Harris was an earlier holder of the Texas honors. This was the moment when the boxing authorities in the Lone Star Republic could have made the most of it.]

What do you rate as Chuvalo's best wins? Cleroux II? DeJohn? [Which I don't buy as a majority decision. George swamped Mike pretty well, even with that 5-3 second round penalty.] Durelle? Along with Big Cat, Doug Jones and Jerry Quarry [who he really did get thoroughly dominated by before that surprise one punch knockdown and ending], or any other match and defeated opponent you'd care to cite, I'd actually be interested to know your opinion on this. [Of course Norton easily trumps all these with Ali I alone. No one disputes that the gulf in resumes is pretty epic.]

Yeah, and I think this would be the key difference between what the first seven rounds of Norton-LeDoux looked like, and what Norton-Chuvalo would have presented. Ken hooked Scott to the body repeatedly, but that's what George would have been doing to him, so Norton would have gone up top on Chuvalo. LeDoux, like Cobb, was resistant to facial damage. After the final bell against Ken though, George would definitely look as though he'd been in a fight.

Norton looked awkward with his 'crab' style, but he had good hand speed, and an excellent hook. Not hooking with a hooker favors Ken here, as Chuvalo didn't really have the speed to compete as needed, or the reach and rapid close necessary to batter Norton's body to make it competitive.

Not sure how much this one resembles Norton-Cobb. Tex tended to press forward more I think, while George was more inclined to stand his ground in mid ring, using his physical strength more like Marciano than Foreman in that respect. As Russell pointed out in this thread nearly four years ago, Ken was perfectly capable of boxing off the ropes, but I believe this one's more likely to stay in ring center. Either way, Norton's skills and hand speed prevail.