Did Larry Holmes beat a washed up Earnie Shavers?

It's hard to say when Earnie's prime actually was. In 1973,a 29 year old (I think) Shavers was stopped in one round by Jerry Quarry. An older version pushed Muhammad Ali to the wire four years later. Yes,Ali was nowhere near the fighter he was around three years earlier,but even a 35 year old shopworn Ali was better than Quarry in all departments.


I reach the conclusion that Earnie's right hand was still awesome when he reached his middle thirties. The last thing a puncher loses is his punch.....etc.....etc.

 

Because Earnie was a late bloomer who had few extended bouts, he was likely prime in the 1976-1979 time frame, although he got off the deck to stop Jeff Sims on the Ali-Berbick undercard at the end of 1981. His televised loss to Tillis the following June still revealed a shocking display of late round power in the ninth, with a far more devastating knockdown than what Tyson would later manage on Quick.

Lyle couldn't have taken that much out of Shavers for Earnie to be back in action a month later. Prior to his loss in Denver, he'd been knocked out by Stander six months after his career started, and Jerry wiped him out in one when Shavers was still far less experienced against quality opposition. Stander, Lyle and JQ account for the "several" brutal knockouts Earnie sustained before Holmes stopped him in their title rematch, four years after Lyle. [Semantically, three is "a few" to me, not "several."]

1974 was a developmental year for him with the ten round loss to the clever Bob Stallings and the ten round draw with Young [the final time Jimmy would ever hit the floor, at the hand of the only opponent to ever do it].

Following the loss to Lyle, 1976 really was his breakout year. Henry Clark I and Tiger Williams were ten round affairs which invaluably taxed his stamina. Henry Clark I was NOT a close fight. In fact, Earnie locked up the scoring early with an insurmountable lead in these longer matches before tiring. In Paris, Clark was hampered by the first cut of his career, facial damage inflicted by Shavers starting in round four which closed Henry's eye. Tiger started coming back in round eight needing a knockout to win, and came close in the tenth, but Earnie caught him with a long right off the ropes as Roy tore in for the kill, resulting in the biggest late round KO of his career.

Ali started to change the perception of Shavers as somebody who gassed quickly. We'll never know just how close Earnie came to forcing a stoppage, but it seems certain he came closer than anybody else during the 1970s after round 11 of the FOTC.

Preparing for Ali, Shavers took just over five months off after Howard Smith [for which he had the flu, hence why he was so winded in the post fight interview with Jerry Quarry after less than two rounds of action, much more winded than he was after a full 15 with Ali]. Following his first title shot, he took just less than six months off before Holmes I, and around four months elapsed prior to Holmes II. Since he went six months between Clark I & II in 1976, these were hardly excessive intervals between fights for him. He wasn't rusty for either match with Larry.

In their rematch, Earnie did about as well as anybody against Holmes between Norton and Witherspoon, putting Larry on the deck [as would Snipes]. This was at a time when Holmes was decking Ocasio with jabs, and laying out Weaver and Evangelista for single shot wins.

Rather difficult for a guy like Shavers to get suitable competition to prepare him to get to the next level for title shots, but in

Now, if you're seeking to identify a balding guy to describe as real old looking based on that fact alone, then check out Aaron Pryor versus Dujuan Johnson. The late Dujuan was 20 years old when he challenged The Hawk. Perhaps you can find proof that Mr Excitement was much older based solely on his rapidly receding hairline.

 

Earnie was an erratic, up and down guy. As another poster mentioned, it's hard to determine when his prime was exactly. I don't think the loss to Stander is that important...Earnie was fighting about once a month at the time; I think anyone fighting that frequently is going to have a bad night at some point, except maybe SRR or Henry Armstrong. The Lyle loss was, in my opinion, a bad break for Earnie, and I think if the fight hadn't have been in Lyle's backyard, it might have been stopped after Earnie floored Ron. He was definitely on the way down by the time he met Holmes, I'd say.

 

Holmes best wins were against the no 1 contender Ken Norton, Cooney and Shavers...twice.

No one watching both bouts between Holmes and Shavers would think...in their wildest imagination, that Shavers could ever beat Holmes. Holmes totally outclassed Earnie aside from that one all time right hand....which Holmes immediately got up from.

Earnie was a huge puncher but could be easily outboxed.

 

You guys covered things enough for me not to add anything other then baldness in men even in early twenties isn't uncommon. My nephew began shaving his head at 19 because of it, so that isn't a factor in deciding how old Earnie was at the time of the second Holmes fight.

 

Answer = no.

 

This guy really has a hatred for Holmes....first he was not lineal champion...now he beat a washed up Shavers.

 

You must be new here, only great fighters are allowed the "washed up" or "past prime" excuse. Joking..

Truth of the matter is, Shavers was never that good. Just a guy with a great punch. The Norton match up was just a blessing for Shavers, it was obviously a favorable stylistic match up against a fading contender who was still clinging to a high ranking.

 

Earnie had some tremendous strengths a punch and a multitude of weaknesses, I seen him get stopped by Quarry in 1 and he was already KO'd by Stander but Earnie could KO a Norton and lose to a Bob Stallings, Shavers was always erratic but could always punch, funny but a Vicente Rondon who was KO'd by Briscoe a middleweight and Bob Foster LH among others went the distance with Earnie