Chuvalo had the tools to outlast shavers and stop him late. Earnies only chance to is to catch him in a brutal barrage early and force a stoppage as foreman and Frazier did.
Do you think Earnie could do that though? I feel he's very overrated, awesome power but not much else
It's possible yes Shavers did the same to Bugner who was pretty durable, it all depends if Shavers could stop him before his stamina run out which was suspect.
Earnie clearly fouled Bugner to execute the KD. Joe arose and was okay. Bugner simply wasn’t able to come out for round 3 due to a badly cut eye. If Bugner had continued, I think we might’ve see a Cobb fight like complexion and ending - Shavers had already shot his load somewhat in the first two rounds - save for the cut, there was nothing wrong with Bugner otherwise. On paper, if Earnie hit as hard as reputed, he should rate a chance of KO’ing/Stopping Chuvalo. Lack of skill is often cited as being the reason for Shavers not being able to secure certain KOs against upper echelon competition. That shouldn’t be a factor here. Chuvalo was very easy to hit - Shavers will land his best. And if his best is as advertised, it should put a major dent in Chuvalo well before Earnie gasses from his own efforts. The problem for me is that I don’t see Shavers denting Chuvalo’s chin in any significant way. . While it might be said that Chuvalo had an extraordinary chin - it had also been made clear by many that Earnie had an extraordinary punch - I think the failure here for Shavers is that while Chuvalo’s chin will hold up as advertised, Earnie’s punch will be proven to be a tad overrated. Shavers fought and was stopped by Ron Stander. No mistake, as per fight description and Stander’s testimony (Earnie’s punches akin to being hit repeatedly with a policeman’s night stick) - Earnie hit Ron with everything he had - if his punch was such, the question of stamina should’ve been mooted with an early round KO. Not here to argue over Shavers’ power but I think this fight will see Chuvalo hit with everything and the kitchen sink in the first 2-3 rounds, but George will still be safely standing. Chuvalo will certainly remain viable enough to see Earnie tire badly by the mid to three quarter mark - and Chuvalo will simply batter the exhausted form before him for a late round stoppage.
As a footnote, these two were scheduled to fight in June of '73 in Cleveland, but Chuvalo pulled out with a bad back. The normally active Chuvalo hadn't fought in 9 months and wouldn't fight again for another 4 months. Shavers, now without a fight, was called in as a substitute for Jose Luis Garcia to fight Jerry Quarry, but Quarry pulled out with a stomach bug. Jimmy Ellis then came in as a sub for Quarry and the rest is history. Who knows how the inactive 35 year old Chuvalo would have done against the 28 year old Shavers at that time?
Chuvalo was fairly hittable. Earnie lands the perfect right on Chuvalo's chin somewhere around round 3... and his hand breaks. Chuvalo then proceeds over the next few rounds to clobber and stop a one-armed Shavers.
As exciting as Earnie was, his record is shoot outs wasn't great, (Quarry, Lyle). Shavers set himself so solid to punch that he was gettable himself. I can certainly see that happening here. Earnie would think he could help himself against the very static Chuvalo but George wasn't a punchbag, he would always hit back. At some point, Shavers is going to launch big and get countered wide open. It would be a war while it lasted.
