Earnie Shavers vs. Oliver McCall

McCall breaks him down.

 

The chin of mccall is overrated

 

Its really not about the chin. Even mccall could be stopped in todays era if he was just standing there helpless taking bomb after bomb from shavers. Dont see that happenig tho because

1-ring iq and wisdom: mccall is a veteran who fought them all and was the primary sparring partner of prime tyson of all people. Thing is, he wasnt just a brainless tank who absorbed everything and plodded forward, he actually won a decision over holmes albeit, a faded holmes but still impressive.

If mccall was hurt, contrary to popular belief, he had the sense to cover up, roll with the punches, or look for openings. He also wasnt too proud to go into a shell and hide until the storm was over (even at the risk of losing a decision).

2-zeal: perfect segue to talk about mental states. Shavers knew he was a heavy puncher so if he smelled the slightest whiff of fear or blood, he pounced on you. This is good instinct, but ali knew this and got in his head making him second guess himself. Shavers had ptsd remembering all the times he had a guy hurt and blew his load early and made it a point to conserve his energy unless he was absolutrly certain. This ended up costing him though as he was constantly needing to play catchup being the aggressor and bring the action.

So what it boils down to is, not only is mccall a better boxer overall (not by a huge margin, but significant) but he could definitely take a bomb or two from earnie without falling apart. And to top it off, he wasnt too shy turtle up until the dust settled. In addition to all that, mccall has respectable power himself and shavers wont be able to just walk through him or outmuscle and bully him as mccalls got a slight height and size advantage (2 inches and at least 20-30 lbs).

My only concern for mccall is that he gets a little TOO complacent and winds up losing a lopsided ugly mud fight because shavers wont stop stalking and bombing away in the late rounds after 10 rounds of cautious tentative pawing, feinting, light blows and clinching from both men. A 12 round fight could end up serving shavers better as he could use the strategy he did against ali and puts his doubts aside, putting it all on the line swinging for the fences. Unless mccall manages to land a nasty counter and stop him or shavers gasses, mccall likely loses that scenario either by close decision or late 11-12 round stoppage from too many unanswered blows.

But otherwise, normally mccall wins a rather dull decision with a few exciting spikes of activity sprinkled here and there 7 times out of 10.

Over 15 rounds, mccall almost certainly wins 9/10 unless shavers lands something insane at just the right moment and follows up with the ref stepping in like the jacobs vs quillin fight. More often than not, shavers simply runs out of steam pounding away at mccalls brick wall of a chin or his guard and mccall picks him apart and stop him late maybe in the 14th.

 

McCall has an overrated chin? How is that even possible.
Never down in 73 fights against mosty modern sized HWs, & some big bangers.
In 300 + rounds against Tyson, I never heard he went down.
Ate unprotected bombs from Lewis to little effect.

Anybody can be Koed in the right circumstance, & everyone with a chin did some rolling & covering. But McCall was not a defensive master who avoided blows-his nickname was about his straight ahead style.
It is very rare for anybody to have so many fights & never leave your feet, let alone a HW.

Either McCall had the greatest chin ever, or he is not far down the list.

 

How is this even possible?
Note: could not find some of my first post, rewrote it, keeping both variants to emphasize my incredulity on the proposition I am debating.

McCall had 73 fights against mostly modern sized HWs.
He never even went DOWN.
Sparred 300 + rounds with Tyson, who went through sparring partners like a buzzsaw-never off his feet.
Never being knocked over is rare, & almost non-existant amongst HWs.

He also fought until nearly 50, occasionally inactive due to a career punctuated with drug & mental illness/acting out problems.
Yet somehow he never falls?
Sure he did some rolling & covering, but his nickname was about his straight ahead style.
And he was not KOing everyone or slipping everything so that his chin was relativly untested.
Ate some unprotected bombs from Lewis without any visible physical effect while suffering a mental breakdown.

If McCall does not have the greatest chin in history, it is not far off.
The only way it could possibly BE OVERRATED is if someone insisted it was far & away the greatest ever-& who says that?

If so many large HWs & Tyson or age or drugs or mental illness could not make a dent in his beard, & he is not widely considered the greatest chin ever....
(Though he may very well be...)

How is it POSSIBLE his chin could be overrated?

Does anyone else agree with this insanity?

 

No.. The question is what the hell are you talking about? The record of mccall is full of tomato cans,the only names that he fought were bruno,lewis(fight stopped.and crying like a *****),tucker ,norris,douglas 100years old holmes and the bum akinwande,just because he was not kod by this terrible record of cans and a few names that actually were not big punchers except bruno who was a crappy finisher or ****ING SPARRING SESSIONS with tyson NOT REAL FIGHTS just because this crap is built his fame of legendary chin.
CHUVALO TOOK A BEATING BY GEORGE FOREMAN AND WAS NOT DOWN

TUA TRADED WITH IBEABUCHI,RAHMAN ETC AND WAS NOT DOWN

LAMOTTA TOOK A BEATING BY ROBINSON AND WAS NOT DOWN

JAMES TONEY A NATURAL 168 TOOK SHOTS FROM HWS AND WAS NOT DOWN

HAGLER FOUGHT HUGE PUNCHERS LIKE HEARNS OR MUGABI

ALI FOUGHT A FEW OF THE HARDEST PUNCHERS IN HISTORY AND NEVER WAS OUT
THESE GUYS PROVED THEIR GREAT CHINS
NOT THE ****ING MCCALL

Did oliver have a good chin? Yes

Is his reputation for indestructible chin justified? No

 

I'd take McCall all day long.

This is not about "could McCall take Shaver's punch?"

This is about, "How much of a puncher's chance does Shavers have against McCall?"

Because that is what Shavers has, a puncher's chance. McCall is streets ahead of him both technically and in resume.

 

Resume.? What resume? You need urgently check again the record of mccall full of tomato cans.. His win over lewis puts him over shavers yes.. But his record overall was garbage. 57-14 and lost to the best that he fought

 

Take a look at the opponent list of Shaver's. It is not as deep as Oliver's. Between the 2 of them, easily 100 C grade heavies.

And food for thought---who was the best chinned guy Earnie ko'd? 97 year old inactive Bugner? Or whom?

 

McCall took a good punch & I feel that would neutralize Shavers power & once Earnie ran out of steam he could be stopped

 

Besides of a 100 years old holmes (that was competitive)and lewis in a lucky day tell me where is the quality OF THE VICTORIES OF MCCALL.

 

Pretty much about the same as Earnie's. 1 or 2 nice wins and that's about it. Be that as it may, since when do past boxing records determine the outcome of fights?

 

Mccall. Shavers would jump out to an early lead as McCall always started very very slow but Shavers would be tiring just as McCall is coming on and that eould spell doom for Earnie. Late stoppage for McCall IMO.

 

McCall having a granite chin doesn't mean he likes eating powerful shots for breakfast, elevenses and afternoon tea.

Bruno had him on the defensive, just by showing him a bit of power. Shavers could yield the same result.

Still a hard one to call because McCall might come on strong at the end, as he could do, which might decide it. But's it a toss-up, really.

50/50 in my book.