I never thought of this one before. What do you think about this match up between two tough Canadians?
I think Burnsy would be on the run as he doesn't have the firepower to bat a lash on Chuvalo's chin. Chuvalo would know this and would have massive psyche over him. Chuvalo walks him down late.
The counterpoint to that would be the Marvin Hart fight, where he effectively frustrated a bigger aggressive fighter.
Chuvalo would effectively use his size and apply technique otherwise dismissed out-of-hand given his typical roughhouse style, and stop his countryman about the 8th round.
Chuvalo did not fare well against men with a modicum of boxing ability,only his size makes him a factor here imo.
I like Burns here, provided he shows up at his ideal fighting weight. I think his hand speed is the difference.
For the most part, you are right, but I have found him to show the inkling of technique sometimes when in with talent. Maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see, though. Having some insight into Chuvalo as a local fighter, my eyes may have lied somewhat. :good
I'm given to quantity over quality, especially when fighters find themselves up in each other's grills. Add a size advantage for a roughhousing heavyweight, and the odds are stacked just enough for me to closely but clearly favor George.
Chuvalo would win, of this I'm fairly certain. In fact if you look at his record he already fought a Tommy Burns twice and beat him... That aside he was the Canadian heavyweight champion on and off for about 20 years.
Chuvalo smothered a prime Ali and gave him all kinds of trouble. I can't see Burns doing any better at trying to evade Chuvalo.
This strikes me as the ideal fight to demonstrate Tommy's worth. Despite his mini stature he possessed speed, power, craft, and it's the latter which would probably get the better of Chuvalo over 15. Marvin Hart, Jim Flynn - Burns knew how to deal with pressure. It's always pleasant hearing the young Mike Tyson sing Burn's praises with Harry Carpenter. "Burn's was a tremendous fighter." Maybe not quite, but not half bad.
People commonly say of Johnson-Burns, 'Tommy was good, Johnson did it better and was bigger'. Well, anyone who -- in Burns day -- is better (p4p) than Burns, and a decent size heavy, is a pretty damn noteworthy heavyweight.
