Sonny Liston (Clark '68) vs. Joe Frazier (Ali III '75)

Though people like to say George Chuvalo had an iron chin, and he did.

So did Henry Clark.

 

He didn't have the volume of matches Chuvalo generated, but did box a total of 429 rounds to George's 508. He completed nearly seven rounds with Liston, eight with Jeff Merritt (before catching Candy Slim cold in a shocking rematch), defeated Mac Foster, Leotis Martin, a young Manuel Ramos and Tiger Williams over ten, Machen over 12, completed ten rounds with Mercado in his final bout, 11 rounds against Shavers before getting stopped on his feet later in the 12th round of competition with Earnie, eight rounds with Norton before getting stopped on his feet in nine, and ten rounds with Folley. He had some fine boxing skills, but was not especially elusive on defense.

A case might be made that Clark squared off for more rounds against more murderous punchers than Chuvalo did. George was stopped by Frazier and Foreman. He was arguably decked by Bonavena. He beat Cleveland Williams over ten for his final major win. He took some good shots from a still viable Ramos, and stood up to a substantial bombardment from an aroused Mathis. But comparing the records of Clark and Chuvalo, the best punchers each faced, and how they responded, I'm not entirely convinced that Clark's never having been knocked down is not more impressive.