Goodnight, Irene wrote:harrygreb wrote:joe kurtz wrote:Though Joe was, indeed, an exceptionally durable heavyweight, George Foreman was an elite level puncher with loads of killer instinct who made a career out of belting out fighters that didn't normally get belted out. His TKO3 over the "immovable object" that was George Foreman being a perfect example of that.
george destroyed himself in 3 rounds? pretty impressive. ali took much longer to ko foreman.
seriously, who is "the immovable object" you nearly refered to?
Presumably he means Frazier. Immoveable object is a fitting description probably not that suited to many of Foreman's opposition in the 70's. Of course that fight ended in two, not three, but those numbers are next to each other on the keyboard.
Actually, just had a thought. There was a fighter named George who Foreman stopped in the third who was exceptionally (in fact inconceivably) tough. He may have meant George Chuvalo, 1970?
That third round was brutal. Foreman swung an axe-like left hook that crashed into Chuvalo's kevlar-jaw, & Chuvalo physically moved so fast from the impact it looked like he teleported. Foreman crucified him all over the ring for the next minute or two causing the ref to stop it. But still Chuvalo kept his feet. What a chin!
You can say that again!
Chuvalo was, indeed, one of a kind.
While many big men through the ages have been said to possess "iron jaws" or "concrete chins", like "Tex" Cobb & Oscar Bonevena for instance, the only one who REALLY lived up to that throughout his entire career was Chuvalo.
Despite fighting during what was arguably the very best era for heavyweights & having met the vast majority of them during a career that spanned from the late '50s to the late '70s, George was never once knocked off his feet in 80 some odd pro fights. Amazing.
And, he was only stopped inside the distance twice. Once on cuts in four rounds by a peaking Joe Frazier & then on punches by RSF in three by a young George Foreman.
What's, in it's own way, just as remarkable is that Chuvalo doesn't display any of the side effects that usually come from such a long career in the ring. And believe me, I've spent a good amount of time with him & around him over the years. From my amateur fights in Cabbagetown back in the late '70s - early '80s against Canadian teams trained by him to various pro cards to all of his appearances in Canastota over the years from '90 to 2001. He was always lucid, an excellent conversationalist & clear spoken. The only time I heard him slur was after too many beers together!
Now, I can't say how things are now, as I haven't seen him since '01 or so, but I've certainly heard nothing about any poor turns in his health. Hopefully there haven't been any.
