The Hardest I was ever hit - George Chuvalo

Interest adage that a boxer’s punch is the last thing to go. You see some aged punchers who can still land but appear to have lost some degrees of power.

It could come down to how much nuanced technique and speed contributed to their peak power as opposed to their possessing more raw power. Therefore, past prime it’s easy to understand how some boxers lose their power because they become slower and also because their supporting executions are no longer on point.

Someone like Foreman could still carry excellent power into his advanced years because speed wasn’t so much a chief contributor to his peak power and George could still hit very hard even when he was punching more with his arms.

The Chuvalo bout 1970, though not great quality, provides some gage as to older Williams’ hitting power. At times, some very hard shots landed by Cleve, enough to clearly jolt Chuvalo’s head, back him off and keep him honest. At least momentarily because it was still Chuvalo after all.

It would’ve been great to see how Chuvalo might’ve stood up to the early rds onslaughts prime Williams put to Liston. Chuvalo probably weathers the storm but, even if only temporarily, we might’ve seen him shaken and hurt at least as much as he was against Foreman,

 

it may be an old age disease

 

Tbh I doubt he would’ve weathered the storm of the Big Cat from the Liston fights.

He had his hands full with a shot (literally) 38 year old Williams.

 

That’s what I’ve thought as being possible. Simply an age onset decline.

One thing, I’ve not heard or ready any description of slurred speech which seems to always accompany pugilistica dementia as far as I’ve observed but I’m no expert.

 

YES on all counts.
Marciano said that he was told that Louis lost some power in his right hand but was surprised it was "nothing".
While still a World Class fighter, his speed & reflexes was gone, & with it his formidable power by or likely before he was 37.
Foreman likely hit almost as hard as ever-which was about as hard as anyone ever-in part because he was always "heavy handed".
And what he lost in speed he mostly made up for in all the mass behind his shots.

 

Speed and technique of course play a part, but what a fighter is hitting the opponent with is also part of the equation.

Big George had enormous hands. They showed him getting gloved for a fight on HBO and it took two men tugging on it with both hands to stretch it over his fist. It must have been like getting walloped with a canned ham or a frozen turkey.

Thomas Hearns had like 112 amateur fights and very few KOs. When he was turning pro, Emanuel Steward realized Thomas was hitting with basically an open hand, tapping and pecking. He taught him to close his fist solid while striking and … well we’ve all seen the rest of the story.

 

Chuvalo wasa competative vs Frazer and Forman.If it wasnt for the cut, I would say he was beating Frazer. Watch the fight.

 

I’ve seen both fights a number of times - but I’ve watched the Foreman fight more often in recent years. Chuvalo was trying to fight back against Foreman but I think the fight moved quickly into being not so competitive from round 2. I might give the Frazier vs Chuvalo fight a rewatch but I have the same recollection for that fight.

 

Foreman was easily beating Chuvalo. Foreman was also only a pro for maybe 16 months when he fought Chuvalo. The Foreman who had 30 plus bouts would of knocked Chuvalo down and stopped him even easier.

 

Who fought them both & said Frazier hit them harder?
Frazier may have caused more pain since he may have hit them more often-with a greater workrate, & it taking longer to knock them out.
Guys who are stopped may not recall how hard they were hit, but remember & suffer more from a prolonged beating.
But I do want to evaluate any common opponents who you can show said that Frazier hit harder.
EDIT: I see you answered/we did this long ago, you said Stander, thanks!

 

No problem. Hey I believe Ali also said it by the way.

 

He came and talked to my elementary school in Halifax Nova Scotia in the 90's. He spent a bit of time talking about how he didn't lose the fight to Ali but spoke highly of him as a person. His speech was well articulated. It's hard to believe he took so many punches in his career.

 

Like Joe Louis said about his last fights,"I saw the openings but by the time I tried to take them the opportunity was gone ."
Liston said about his Scandinavian fights,"I can still ko anybody I hit".a boxing writer wryly observed that was only true if they were stationary.

Who hit you hardest ? Does not necessarily correlate to them being the hardest hitter you faced, For example Joe Louis said Al Delaney hit him the hardest,Archie Moore said Yvon Durelle,
Ezzard Charles ,Lloyd Marshall and Bob Satterfield.All three faced Marciano .
What stage of their careers both the recipient of the punch and the deliverer of it are obvious factors too.

 

Great post, @Saintpat!

 

Yes, there’s a lot involved as you have well covered.

I linked an article/iv with Earnie Shavers a little while back. Earnie basically said while there might be some who could match him with their absolute best punch, there was no one who hit as consistently hard as he (Earnie) did.

I always found Leroy Caldwell’s assessment of Lyle’s power conflicting. On one hand he said Shavers hit harder than Foreman and Lyle combined (deliberate hyperbole but we get his point).

On the other hand Caldwell also said he was aware of the power Lyle possessed so, when they fought, he made sure he stayed on the move - adding more or less that you can’t hurt what you can’t hit.