Earnie Shavers - ESB's Undisputed king of power.

I always thought that David Tua was the King Of ESB.

 

Jerry Quarry ?

 

Or Cleveland Big Cat Williams, Lol.

 

Since this is a Shavers’ tribute thread - some rare vision of Earnie on the heavy bag - unfortunately no audio. A fleeting glimpse of Earnie putting some combos together (the potential of same discussed earlier in the thread) and his hands actually look pretty damn fast:-

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A bit of nostalgia - Earnie and Ali weighing in. Ali saying Earnie rejected the specially made Acorn ring - gee, I wonder why, LOL

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Imagine Earnie Shavers and pre 1964 Cleveland Big Cat Williams in a punch out contest, what a war of atomic bombs.

 

The only thing about Shavers more amazing than his punching power is how polarizing he is. It's absolutely amazing how some people cannot wrap it around their minds that a guy with arguably the most lethal fists in history failed to become champion. For many I suspect it's because they cannot accept that there's more to a fight than power.

Shavers was like a video game character that levels up and puts all his points into power and leaves the rest of the stats alone.

 

I think he was robbed against Ali, but anyway, all one really needs to do is watch his fights with Holmes to see why he wasn't champ. Maxed out power is great, but when you can't hit the other guy, can't finish him when you actually do hit him, and when your defense is lacking...

Holmes had a way of making fighters lacking somewhat in skill look utterly terrible, even when they possessed other positive traits.

 

I'm not sure if he was "robbed", but from memory it was a fairly close fight and you could give Shavers the nod.

I suspect had he won even a minor belt he'd have a lot less detractors. It's funny because if Amir Khan didn't win any titles people would still have to acknowledge his speed. Similarly, chin and stamina are intangibles that are undeniable even if a guy has a horrible record. But when it comes to power, that usually sparks heated debates.

I definitely agree Holmes was good at making guys who lacked in some areas look bad. It was the well rounded technicians he struggled with. That's probably why he often either put on a clinic or went life and death with guys.

 

I think Shavers would have definitely got the nod if it weren't for the last round. Even such, I thought he'd done enough to get the win.

Shavers had the misfortune of being around in a strong era. I mean, his two title shots were against Ali and Holmes. How much worse luck can you get? Had he been around in a weaker era, he'd definitely have grabbed a belt.

 

To be fair though, this version of Ali he faced is nothing to rave about. 1977 Ali is likely in the weaker half of the lineal champions.

 

First round KO for Jerry Quarry!!! And remember folks...it's been mentioned before....Shavers had stamina issues....didn't carry his power into the later rounds...never had a KO past the 7th round...and didn't have the knack of coming up with the BIG punch when he needed too...He had Ali and Holmes hurt...couldn't put 'em away!!!

 

He did have a ko past the 7th round before so..

 

We've told him this about 10x for over a year now but he keeps repeating it. It's impossible for him to have not seen us correct him yet he keeps saying it over and over. We not only have a record of the fight it's on YouTube (Roy Williams).

Especially for a slugger who lacks speed, stamina, timing, and finishing ability, he did remarkably well against those two for a guy whose plan A, B, and C was to knock the opponent out with a barrage of heavy blows. He had absolutely no chance of winning outside of a punchers chance.

Within the 70's, he might have been able to steal the championship from post FOTC Frazier and he could have caught Foreman with a nasty shot (although in a long drawn out slugfest I'd definitely favor Foreman). Had he gotten to Norton before Holmes it's almost guaranteed he would have been champ. In other eras, he'd definitely have a chance of grabbing an ABC title in the 80's or the post Klitschko watered down era. Guys like Weaver, Smith, John Ruiz, Seldon, Charles Martin, Stiverne, etc would have been food for Shavers.