Earnie Shavers - ESB's Undisputed king of power.

Without a robbery, Shavers takes the title from Ali in '77. That's one of those gift decisions / robberies that makes me a little angry. Earnie deserved that win, and it would have been his crowning achievement. Of course, he'd only have held it until he fought Holmes, but he deserved it.

 

Does anyone know if footage of Shavers fights against Jimmy Young exist ? Always wanted to see these fights. Shavers getting a draw against crafty boxer, and KOing Jimmy Young which was rare. Would be intriguing to see.

 

He's an interesting guy. Fought, and lost to, so many great fighters.

Listening to his interview though, it makes sense. He was willing to fight anyone on a moment's notice for barely any money, and he looked impressive physically. Easy tomato can to select.

Seems like a good dude. Glad he's healthy.

 

Shavers was definitely not robbed against Ali. That is an absurd statement.

I don’t think he won the fight either, nor did the majority who watched it including Shavers himself.

 

Ali v Shavers is one of my favorite fights. Because just for a moment, you can glimpse the last bit of greatness of Muhammad Ali poured out in the 15th. He isn't perfect by any means, but I swear something just clicked that round, of course Dundee knew Ali was ahead, and he let Ali know, and of course Shavers had stamina issues and Ali knew he could steal the 15th. But watch the 15th round, his ability to pull back from punches just inches- centimeters consistently from his face returns, the power he's getting from his punches even moving backwards, he finds his range and he's hitting his target effortlessly. I love the 15th round obviously because, just one last time, you see The Greatest.

 

Wow can you imagine a Shavers that focused on combos and speed with a good trainer? He had so much raw power, that even glancing shots could get guys in trouble.

 

Yeah, I know, right? That was some crazy sh*t. People shouldn’t be allowed to post whilst under the influence (PUI)…..there should be breathalyser locks on keyboards……IF ONLY that was my excuse. SOBER as a judge…..wait, that’s an oxymoron……rephrase: as SOBER as a judge SHOULD be…..

 

The 15th was pretty great. Ali was shot by that point in his career, and beat up to hell and beyond exhausted at the end of that fight, he somehow channeled a bit of his younger self and went into an all out assault. That's the champion/warrior heart.

He really should have retired after that.

 

Muhammad Ali vs Earnie Shavers

1 Ali
2 Shavers
3 Ali
4 Shavers
5 Ali
6 Shavers
7 Shavers
8 Shavers
9 Ali
10 Ali
11 Ali
12 Ali
13 Shavers
14 Shavers
15 Ali

143-142 Ali

Thats how i had it last time i watched it, not a robbery just a close fight that could of gone either way. For me while Ali was clowning about for the first 9 rounds or so, Shavers could of been more active and took it to Ali, but Shavers was concerned about his stamina so fought pretty cautiously and reserved himself.

Shavers had a slight lead after the first 9 rounds, but Ali started to turn it up a notch in the last 5 rounds or so. And he nicked it based on that and winning the last round, no robbery here just a close fight.

 

Yeah, great insight and self awareness on Earnie’s part. It’s easy to see why he’s one of the most liked fighters - including amd most notably amongst his peers. Someone referenced the YOUNG fights - I’d love to see those - to put Young down, even if Jimmy was green, is no mean feat - and to put a once bitten and presumably twice as shy Young down hard again in the rematch and relatively early (4th round) is something to really crow about.

Lyle is something of an enigma to me. Watch the HL reels and the man had an hellacious, killer punch - but sometimes THAT Ron didn’t appear to turn up - perhaps needing equal and opposite artillery coming his way to truly ramp him up (see Foreman and Shavers fights). I’m sure Ronnie had his punch in potential v Caldwell but as Leroy describes, he didn’t land much so throwing Lyle into the mix for comparison to George and Earnie (who both stopped/KO’d Shavers) isn’t completely equitable.

The irony was Caldwell suggesting he was more cautious and mobile v Ron due to Lyle being superior in speed to Foreman and Shavers…..but there was also the small issue that Ronnie could punch like hell, LOL.

 

Actually, it was a very good performance on Earnie’s part even though he lost (imo) and for what it’s worth, that was Earnie’s opinion also.

It was clearly a more considerately paced and metered Shavers. When he rocked Ali in round 2, many say Ali duped Earnie into thinking that Ali might’ve been okay delaying any follow up by crucial seconds….maybe…but tbh, Ali did recover quickly and I’m sure Earnie already held premed discipline not to shoot his wad too early and gas himself out.

And, there were many head twisting shots to come after the fact of round 2 anyway…..for damage incurred in a single fight, particularly by an older, already shop worn body - a very bad fight for Ali in its own right.

 

Oh man I agree, it was a good effort on part of Shavers. I think Ali took more punishment in this fight than any other. Full stop. But I do genuinely find it to be an impressive fight on both sides given the weaknesses and circumstances of each fighter. Only Ali could be in the onset of Parkinson's, and still pull out a winning performance. Is it Ali's best fight? No. Ali's style relied on a body his mind couldn't move the way it used to. But Ali proved he was a champion at his core even when his facilities began to fail him, on the night he fought Shavers.

 

Totally agree on all points. And, while I believe Ali won, I can still appreciate and understand some variances in people’s scoring - because it often comes down to the all important yet often grey area of comparative punch quality and definition of same.

Like, say, how many softer punches, even partially blocked punches by Ali equal one Earnie Howitzer punch?

LOL, we could debate til the cows come home on such things but, all in all, I still tab it for Muhammad - viewed in due context, his last great fight and he did almost put Earnie out at the 11th hour which, IMO, was more due to Ali’s late punching surge than Earnie’s own fatigue.