This thought kept resurfacing in my head, in my opinion, the two are the top of the list when it comes to hardest hitting heavyweights.
Any quotes from Lyle? He had wars with both. Leroy Caldwell, who was KOd by both, said Shavers hit much harder.
https://www.boxingforum24.com/search/61342726/?q=harder,+shavers&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=12 Not sure if this will work but it's the page I got when I typed 'Shavers' and 'Harder' into the search facility (top right of the page) and then specified 'Threads Only'. I tried exactly the same words on Pornhub's search engine too. That opened my eyes, I can tell you.
Yawn. george was the better puncher because he hurt everyone he fought. Put it this way, shavers hit hard..but he was never going to knockout Joe Frazier.
From Boxrec: Shavers: 74W (68KO) Foreman 76W (68KO) Considered Foreman fought even as old, I thiink Foreman. Shavers lost power with the passing of the time and didnt face fighters of other generations.
IIRC Ali said once it was Shavers the one hitting hardest I think Ali should know what he was talking about since he fought both.
Shavers certainly hit Ali more OFTEN than Foreman did. Good reason for this being that Muhammad was a lot easier to hit with full on shots in 1977 than he was in '74. Foreman hit hard with left and right whereas Earnie's power was all right hands.
Foreman was a way better boxer than Shavers. If he got you hurt he could finish you. And I think Foreman fought better competition. Shavers may have hit harder- I personally don’t think so but the point being he didn’t have the skills to follow that up. I wonder if prime Foreman would have put Holmes away in that same scenario where Shavers could not
They're different punchers. Shavers was more explosive and got more leverage. He was punching right through you like he was aiming for what's behind you. He had less skill and didn't set up his shots as well and was a worse finisher, but he was even more reckless and more willing to put all his weight into a punch. Foreman was a heavy handed clubbing puncher who mostly battered guys with his tremendous arm strength and underrated timing. It's like comparing a jeep going 80 vs a semi truck going 60. Either way, if you get hit by the full force, you're done for. I fought some huge stocky guys with big arms and the punches felt like baseball bats or 2x4's. They had a dull, numbing sensation. The guys who had good speed and leverage felt more like a towel or whip. It's a different sensation. I think Shavers definitely hit harder with the straight right cross. Foreman was the overall more effective puncher and had superb power in either hand with just about every other punch.
