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Hardly anyone receives pathetic training, yet gets as far as Chuvalo. George did not have a Willie Reddish, a Harry Wiley, or even an Angelo Dundee--instead, Chuvalo had the local butcher as his trainer.
Almost everything you see him do is natural. He was naturally tough, and a hearty specimen. He also trained very hard to get in superb condition--that much is obvious. Conditioning is still not boxing training. The man's boxing rudiments were awful. Yet, look what he still accomplished. Hardly anyone could do such a thing on so poor a technical foundation. It reminds me of Ramanujan making discoveries at the forefront of mathematics anyway on hardly any training but of his own devising. A little training at the right time and both would have left the world so much more legacy. That is my feeling on both Chuvalo and Ramanujan. They were made to shake the world, but were randomly born in the wrong part of the world to get that job completed. They got it part way done anyway, on the poorest of chances.
George had no more head movement than your hood ornament, and was not very concerned with blocking or evading punches, either. He took most punches full on, full brunt, asking only that he could deliver a few of his own. It must have been unnerving to hit him with your best shot and have him apparently not notice. Still, the psychological technique is not recommended.
It has been mentioned recently that George was a power puncher. I agree, but also believe he would have punched even harder with the right trainer early. I don't believe that punching power rests 100% with natural ability alone, but can be facilitated and augmented through correct regimen, especially early in development.
We will never know how far the improved Chuvalo might have gone. Could he have avoided enough of Foreman's punches to tire him out, and then gone to work? We cannot know. We feel confident, though, that he would have been an even more difficult opponent for the greats with good training early, and he was already difficult as it was.
On a side note: The man looked enough like Jack Dempsey to be his reincarnation.
Almost everything you see him do is natural. He was naturally tough, and a hearty specimen. He also trained very hard to get in superb condition--that much is obvious. Conditioning is still not boxing training. The man's boxing rudiments were awful. Yet, look what he still accomplished. Hardly anyone could do such a thing on so poor a technical foundation. It reminds me of Ramanujan making discoveries at the forefront of mathematics anyway on hardly any training but of his own devising. A little training at the right time and both would have left the world so much more legacy. That is my feeling on both Chuvalo and Ramanujan. They were made to shake the world, but were randomly born in the wrong part of the world to get that job completed. They got it part way done anyway, on the poorest of chances.
George had no more head movement than your hood ornament, and was not very concerned with blocking or evading punches, either. He took most punches full on, full brunt, asking only that he could deliver a few of his own. It must have been unnerving to hit him with your best shot and have him apparently not notice. Still, the psychological technique is not recommended.
It has been mentioned recently that George was a power puncher. I agree, but also believe he would have punched even harder with the right trainer early. I don't believe that punching power rests 100% with natural ability alone, but can be facilitated and augmented through correct regimen, especially early in development.
We will never know how far the improved Chuvalo might have gone. Could he have avoided enough of Foreman's punches to tire him out, and then gone to work? We cannot know. We feel confident, though, that he would have been an even more difficult opponent for the greats with good training early, and he was already difficult as it was.
On a side note: The man looked enough like Jack Dempsey to be his reincarnation.
Willow The Wisp
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