Hed give them problems. An old, fat Peralta who Pastrano split two fights with (lost one when he was out of shape only trained for two weeks) gave Lyle fits and held him to a draw by moving and potshotting. Pastrano could do the same. The only thing that would give me pause Peralta had enough pop to keep Lyle honest. Pastrano couldnt do that.
It's a tightrope walk for Pastrano but he could pull it off. With Shavers in particular, one mistake could be Willie's last mistake. That said, Shavers didn't always shine against slicker fighters. I give Willie at his best a 50% chance against Shavers... Against Lyle, that probably moves to 30%.
Why 30%? A prime Pastrano? Like I said Peralta made Lyle look decidedly ordinary and that was a fat old Peralta. Lyle didnt exactly have a stellar record against boxers either.
What exactly is a Prime Pastrano? The one who got outboxed by light hitting Roy Harris and the mediocre Joe Erskine, the one who dropped decisions to jessie bowdry, chic calderwood, wayne thornton? Or his immense struggle with a fat 45 year old Archie Moore, whom he couldn't beat? https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AAIBAJ&sjid=mekFAAAAIBAJ&pg=851,4779217&hl=en Associated Press scored it 8-2 for Archie Moore, UPI scored it 4-4-2 Doesn't seem like a robbery to me, although I have not scored it myself. I would argue if Erskine, London and Harris could make Pastrano look ordinary, so could bigger stronger faster more skilled heavyweights in Lyle and Shavers You mention Peralta, Peralta also beat Pastrano. Or was he in his prime for just one night, when he defeated a overconfident 35 year old Harold Johnson in a controversial decision that some thought Johnson edged(Myself included) What SKILLED 6'3 220lb HIGHLY rated heavyweight did Pastrano ever prove himself against?
More skilled??? Shavers is about the least skilled most overrated one trick pony in HW history. On top of that he had absolutely ****ty stamina. Yeah, Id pick Pastrano over him. Lyle always struggled with boxers, trying to denigrate Erskine, London, and Harris to build Lyle up is pretty silly considering Erskine and Harris at least were much faster and more mobile than the lumbering Lyle. Stand in front of him and try to have a shootout and Lyle is a problem, move on him and he suddenly looks very ordinary. As for Moore-Pastrano "I have not scored it myself" LOL. You mean you havent seen it. Pastrano worked around Moore like a cooper works around a barrel and the only thing that gave Moore a draw was a questionable flash knockdown. Even then Moore was better than Lyle ever was. You can ask what big HW Pastrano ever proved himself against but what small mover in his prime did Lyle ever prove himself against? eaking out a draw against an ancient Peralta in the last round after having gone life and death with him in Denver and losing two to Young, as well as letting the, by then, slow footed Quarry make you look leaden doesnt inspire my confidence in him against boxers, especially not one as slippery as Pastrano.
It should be noted, Pastrano was only stopped twice in 13 losses in a 80+ fight career. In those two stoppage loses, one was a controversial cut stoppage while ahead on points in London's home country , the other was his final fight. So banking on a KO against him may not be the best strategy.
Ok fair enough And out of his 80 + fights, how many were Against top 5 rated heavyweights who were 6'1-6'4" 210-220lb with good skills and massive punching puncher? Would you say it's fair to say his chin is unproven against big skilled power punching heavyweights?
Except he's going against two of the hardest hitting heavyweights of the era who both weighed between 210-225lb and were 6'1-6'4" tall
1. Harris and Erskine wouldn't last 3 rounds with Ron Lyle. 2. 45 year old archie Moore would have beat a prime Ron Lyle? You sure about that?
Ok John Holman was not top 5 when pastrano fought him. I've made it clear that pastrano never beat a heavyweight who was rated top 5 at the time the fight took place John Holman was NOT a skilled fighter. Shavers and Lyle were a lot better fighters than John Holman. Skill wise, shavers and Lyle slipped punches better than holman, countered better, better jabs, better head movement, better upper body movement, better footwork Lastly, when pastrano fought Holman, holman was coming off two losses in a row and would lose 3 of his next 4. Lyle and Shavers at there best were high ranking heavyweights in the 1970s era
And both of them were very very beatable by a wide variety of styles and sizes as proven by their careers.
Shavers was a guy that disregarded pace and defense. He was his worst own enemy in the ring with a high risk/high reward style. Skillful and ring savvy are not terms that come to mind in reference to Shavers.