What If? Sonny Liston Vs George Chuvalo

By Ian “The Boxing Historian” Murphy

“If all fights went 100 rounds, George Chuvalo would be unbeaten in any era.”- Rocky Marciano.

Since my most recent piece on George Chuvalo, I was lucky enough to get an email from a close friend of ol’ Iron Head saying that George himself enjoyed the article and would be open to speaking over the phone. I spoke with George and his friend David recently, and it was quite a treat. Chuvalo was very gracious and complimentary about the article and during our conversation (and George is a funny man with a great raspy laugh!), we got to talking about Sonny Liston. George respected Liston, and was actually scheduled to fight him in 1970, but very shortly afterwards, Liston died. It is probably safe to say that a 1970 matchup between Chuvalo and Liston would have not been as competitive as if it had happened five years earlier, so we’ll have to put that into perspective and have them square off in 1965, when Sonny was closer to his prime.

Charles “Sonny” Liston was one of the most feared fighters in the history of boxing, and for good reason. He was a big puncher with excellent boxing skills and had a terrific chin. His jab was literally like a battering ram smashing into your face. If you didn’t have a thick beard and a strong heart, you’d be toast inside three rounds. For a man of average height (for a heavyweight), the 6’1 Liston also had a remarkable 84 inch reach. This is the wingspan of a 7 foot tall basketball player! Liston was a human wrecking machine with power in both hands. He was avoided like the plague until he was finally given a title shot from Floyd Patterson in 1962. Liston starched Patterson in one round.

However, like all fighters, Sonny had his weaknesses. Even though he had a great chin (the 2nd Ali fight had a dubious ending…), Liston tended to fade a little late in fights if he couldn’t bounce his opponent within 7 or 8 rounds. If he won by decision, it was due to the cumulative beating his opponents had taken earlier on and they often weren’t able to fight effectively after his opening barrage.

Psychologically (a facet of fighting is often very understated by many boxing fans/writers), Liston was a bully in the ring, and used intimidation combined with his brutish strength to mentally deflate his foes. He would even pad his robe with towels to make him appear bigger and scarier. If a fighter could not be broken by Liston’s psychological warfare, and had a strong chin with enough power to get his respect, Sonny could be beaten, even at his best. Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) defeated the seemingly unbeatable Liston in February 1964 and made Sonny quit on his stool after the 6th round. Liston couldn’t intimidate Clay, and could not bring himself to fight another nine rounds. It was later revealed that Liston had injured his shoulder, which would have contributed to his inability to finish the fight. However, prior to the injury, Liston was getting bested by an unrelenting foe who showed no fear.

In contrast, George Chuvalo was not a bully. He was a no-nonsense pressure fighter who was always on top of his opponent, always pressing, never backing up. He had a nasty body attack that had hospitalized some of his foes. Chuvalo was not a slick and polished boxer, but he gave a prime Muhammad Ali a very tough fight, possibly the most challenging match of the first part of Ali’s career. Despite his underrated defensive skills and power (64 KOs in 73 wins!), Chuvalo’s greatest strength was not his physicality or even his much lauded toughness. It was his heart and mental fortitude that always kept him in the fight.

Like Marciano and his contemporary Joe Frazier, Chuvalo could not be bullied or intimidated. He felt that he could not be hurt in the ring and rarely was. George also would keep pressing and would try to win even if he was behind late in a fight. When a bully matches up with someone like this, that lack of fear hurts his ability to stay in the fight mentally. A classic example is Evander Holyfield stopping Mike Tyson in 1996, where Holyfield withstood Tyson’s best and turned the tables later. Tyson was visibly unnerved by this and while he hung in there, he was soundly beaten in 11 rounds.

PREFIGHT OVERVIEW

This match takes place on November 1, 1965 in Madison Square Garden, NYC. In reality, this was the date when Chuvalo fought Ernie Terrell for the WBA Heavyweight title. Muhammad Ali was the recognized champion, but was stripped of the WBA portion of his belt when he signed to fight a rematch with Sonny Liston. But being that Ali and Chuvalo didn’t fight until March 1966, and Liston was inactive between May 1965 and July 1966, this date would work for our purposes. The (arguably) 33 year old Liston weighs in at an even 220lbs and the 28 year old Chuvalo comes in at 216. They are both a hair over 6 feet tall, but Liston enjoys a whopping 8 inch reach advantage. Liston is coming off of consecutive losses to Ali, while Chuvalo had won four straight (all by knockout) since his disputed loss to former champion Floyd Patterson in February. Since this is not a championship bout, it will be for twelve and not fifteen rounds.

THE FIGHT:

As the fight begins, Liston establishes his vaunted jab and his huge left routinely slams into Chuvalo’s face. He’s a tick or two slower than when he had destroyed Floyd Patterson for the title in 1962 and the younger, in his prime Chuvalo takes the jabs without flinching and manages to hammer home a few hard shots to the body. Liston does not like this one bit and looks to hurt George early, as 11 more rounds of heavy body shots does not appeal to him. At the end of the first, Sonny lands a hard left hook to the head as Chuvalo tries to go to the body. No visible effect on George, but the round goes to Liston, 10-9. The second and third round continue this theme with Liston looking to land hard enough to hurt Chuvalo. He has his moments and hits George hard with right hands and left hooks. An uppercut midway through round 3 makes Chuvalo shake his head. Sonny still has big power, but his speed and accuracy have waned. Despite his ring rust, Liston is managing to land his jab with enough frequency to keep Chuvalo off of him for the time being. He wins the next two rounds 10-9 also.

Liston continues to work the head of Chuvalo with heavy jabs, but they appear to have little effect beyond halting his advancing foe, as most of Sonny’s heavier follow-up punches are either parried or do not land flush. Chuvalo begins to land his body punches with more regularity and Liston is starting to slow down and becomes a more stationary target. Sonny’s work rate is still pretty good, and manages to outland Chuvalo in the 4th round. He is ahead four rounds to one going into the 6th, but George’s body attack and rough inside game is now wearing on Liston. Chuvalo has found his range, and now routinely gets inside Liston’s long jab and jams up Sonny’s follow up punches. A momentum shift is occurring and a new pattern is forming. Chuvalo is now busting Liston up on the inside.

As the fight progresses through the middle rounds, Chuvalo’s youth and sharpness (he had fought more than five times that year to Liston’s one) have turned the tide of the fight decisively to his favor. Liston’s jab does not have the same snap and getting inside to do damage is becoming easier. Sonny is George’s match as far as strength goes, but his freakishly long arms cannot get as much leverage at close range and Chuvalo punishes him with hard combinations to the head and body. Liston is a very tough man, and takes it all, but he’s beginning to fade. He has not been able to intimidate Chuvalo and the thought of taking this punishment for another five or so rounds is weakening his will to fight. By the end of the ninth, both men are cut, but Chuvalo is fresher and continues to press Liston. He sweeps rounds five through nine, outworking his opponent decisively.

Round ten begins with Liston protecting his midsection, and being a little tentative in extending his jab. He is leery of the damage Chuvalo has done to his body. Sonny digs deep and finds his resolve and surprises George and goes on the offensive. He clips Chuvalo with a nasty right uppercut-left hook combo and it makes Chuvalo wince in pain. George takes it and continues his methodical attack. Liston cannot believe this man did not fall from those punches. Due to taking Liston’s best shots, Chuvalo is slowed by them and his work rate drops as the tenth round ends. He is most likely more hurt than he lets on. Liston wins his first round since winning the first four. The eleventh round sees a return to Chuvalo outworking and punishing Liston to the body. The younger man’s conditioning and relentless pressure are swinging the fight back into his favor. Through 11 rounds, the fight is very close, but Chuvalo is ahead by one.

Round twelve begins with Chuvalo again winging punches from all angles. He is a little wild, but he senses that Liston might be ready to go and due to his record of having close decisions not going his way, he does not want the fight going to the judges. Sonny has shown little since he hurt Chuvalo in the 10th and Liston manages to block some of Chuvalo’s offering, but he cannot move like he did earlier in the fight and is now taking a beating. Liston is clipped hard to the jaw with a left followed with hard shots to the body. Sonny is holding on, but he is not responding fast enough. Chuvalo moves Liston into a corner and is firing lefts and rights, looking to finish the former champion. True to form, Liston stays on his feet, but is not answering. The referee stops the fight at 2:11 of round 12 for the winner by TKO, George Chuvalo.

In this battle of tough, iron-chinned warriors, Chuvalo’s youth, pressure and conditioning proved the deciding factor in this match up. Had they matched up during Liston’s prime in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he most likely turns the tide and defeats a young and green Chuvalo. Whether either man is in their prime or not, Chuvalo matches up well with Liston. As the old saying goes: “styles make fights”. Sometimes a more celebrated or polished fighter does not always win. As with any “what if” fantasy match, any number of scenarios could have played out. Liston could have won of course, as he was a great fighter. Either man could have gotten cut or injured in some way, like Liston did in his first fight with Ali. But keeping in mind where these two men were in their careers at the time of this fantasy match, common sense dictates that Chuvalo more than likely would have won. Beyond that, the psychological effect on Liston due to Chuvalo not being intimidated also would have been a major factor.

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