Brute force

     George Chuvalo once compared the punching power of George Foreman and Joe Frazier by using a traffic analogy.
      "Getting hit by Foreman was like getting hit by a Mack truck going 50 miles per hour," Chuvalo said. "Getting hit by Frazier was like getting hit by a Cadillac going 100 miles per hour. It was a different type of impact."
      Chuvalo would have to be considered an expert on heavyweight punching power. The good but not great Canadian heavyweight was reduced to roadkill by both the Mack truck and the Cadillac during a journeyman fighting career in the '60s and '70s.
      But not everyone connected with the fight game can share in Chuvalo's concussion-influenced memories. Judging the great power punchers in the history of the heavyweight division -- including Mike Tyson -- is a wholly subjective task.
      "It's hard to compare a Joe Louis to a Sonny Liston," veteran trainer Emanuel Steward said Thursday at the MGM Grand Garden, shortly after Tyson and Evander Holyfield weighed in for Saturday's World Boxing Association championship fight at the MGM. "But you can talk to people who have witnessed a lot of fights and get a pretty good idea who the most powerful punchers were."
      A handful of boxing experts trot out a short list of some of the big boppers who have populated boxing's glamour division: Louis, Sonny Liston, Foreman, Frazier, Earnie Shavers and Tyson.
      "There's no doubt about it, Tyson belongs with the greats in terms of punching power," Steward said. "When I think of the big punchers, I go back to Foreman in his prime, then Liston. But, man, Tyson is right up there with them in my opinion."
      Eddie Futch, who trained Frazier during much of his fighting career, also said Tyson's power ranks with the greats.
      "His power alone, the pure power, is right up there," Futch said. "He's rare because he has quick power. He has very good hand speed that gets on the target fast and hurts the target very quickly. A lot of his knockouts, especially early in his career, were lighting-fast knockouts."
      However, Futch laughed when asked to compare Tyson to Louis.
      "Nope, nope, there's no comparison," he said. "Louis was unique because he could do what the smaller, faster fighters could do. He was precise. He could get anyone out of there with one punch, but he was too smart to do that. He'd fire off three or four quick power punches.
      "Before the guy even knew he was hurt by the first one, he was taking two or three more."
      Relying too much on power can actually curtail a fighter's development, Futch said.
      "A lot of times they look to land the one big bomb," he said. "They don't look for combinations or try to go to the body. That's the biggest problem with power punchers."
      Futch said Tyson's power would not have saved him against either Foreman or Frazier.
      "Joe would have been much too busy for Tyson," he said. "A young Foreman would have taken Tyson out, because you didn't beat Foreman with power. Tyson would have tried to do that, and he would have had no chance, no chance at all."
      There's no disputing Tyson's career has been built mostly through his pure power. His 45 victories include 39 knockouts. He has 20 first-round knockouts and fought 19 professional bouts before being extended to 10 rounds by Mitch Green in 1986.
      Butch Lewis witnessed one of Tyson's most famous one-round destructions in 1988 when he managed former heavyweight titlist Michael Spinks, who was dropped in less than two minutes.
      "Whenever you judge power punchers, you have to think in terms of what they can do with one punch," Lewis said. "Liston could get you out with one punch. So could Frazier, Foreman and Shavers. The power of Tyson certainly compares well with the past champions."
      Lewis said he has been most impressed by Louis.
      "I've seen a lot of film on him, and the thing about him that was so great was he could hit you with a punch that traveled six inches and still hurt a guy, even knock him out," Lewis said. "He'd hit the guy, and the guy would freeze. You could see that he felt it all the way to his toes. He wasn't like Foreman or Tyson, who wind up and hit you from downtown.
      "Joe Louis was the greatest puncher I've seen, and a lot of people who saw him fight in person say there's no doubt he was the greatest."
      Longtime boxing writer Michael Katz of the New York Daily News, who has been covering title fights for three decades, said Tyson's power is enhanced by his fast hands.
      "He's a very, very good puncher because of his hand speed," Katz said. "That's what makes him special. His raw power wasn't in the same class as Earnie Shavers. I saw Liston and Foreman and lots of others, and Earnie Shavers was the hardest hitter I've seen."
      Power seems to be Tyson's greatest ally in Saturday's title rematch with Holyfield. Tyson's finest moment in the fighters' first meeting in November was when he clubbed Holyfield with a right hand early in the first round, but he was unable to effectively follow up.
      "I think if Tyson catches him with a big shot early, it will be over," Steward said. "If it goes less than three rounds, Tyson will win. That's his best shot."
      However, Katz said power might not be enough.
      "Having a good punch doesn't mean you have a great chin," he said. "There's a lot more to fighting than that."
      True. There is defense, balance, footwork, guile, and stamina. In boxing, even a Mack truck can get totaled.