Was Ali really still a great fighter when he beat Earnie Shavers?

“Ali was “old when he faced me, but he was still the best fighter I ever was in the ring with. Jimmy Young was the most slippery, and Larry Holmes could fight, but Ali, he was the best. Even an old Ali was the best.”

-Earnie Shavers

Their fight was five or so months before the debacle at the Las Vegas Hilton.

 

I think he was still a “ very good” fighter but I don’t think he still possessed greatness at that point. There were many who felt that he had lost the third fight with Norton and Jimmy young. He was barely getting by.

 

He was still very cagey at that time. Eventually his athleticism had so withered that all the caginess he acquired was of no avail.

 

He was finished, even before the fight in an interview his speech had slowed and his body looked falabby, Holmes was far quicker when he fought Shavers and it was far more one-sided despite the knockdown in one of their clashes.

 

No .. tough but not great .. he dropped fifteen percent from his already reduced state after that fight , maybe more ..

 

Totally have to agree that the Shavers bout took everything the butterfly had left, Ali was drained of his life force from Shavers punches.

To answer the thread though, I do think this fight with Shavers was the last example of The Greatest. The 15th round is god damn beautiful and something only Ali could execute given his circumstance.

 

Overall no longer a great fighter compared to earlier versions but still had a great chin, great heart an fighting intelligence

 

Honestly, I don’t even think he was the best heavyweight in the world in 1977. Sure he still had the title was easily top 3-5 in actual ability. But Ken Norton and Jimmy Young made him look very bad around that time and arguably deserved those decisions. Then you had an up and coming Larry Holmes who was reaching prime. I think 1974 was probably the last time boxing saw a truly “great” version of Muhammad Ali

 

If retention of superior, unparalleled resilience in its own right still constitutes greatness, then yes, Ali still was but only in that regard.

Otherwise, a very good fighter at best who still provided for a very good to great fight against Shavers.

As someone already more or less pointed out, a heavily punished and exhausted Ali’s efforts in the 15th round were beyond human.

As already pointed out also, that fight took the biggest slice from Ali as reflected by that performance in comparison to his next fight.

 

He was still one of the best in the world, I'd have to rank Young and Norton above him at that time though.

Holmes wasn't as much a factor until Shavers I.

 

Anyone who goes 15 with a murderous puncher like Shavers is a great fighter. Lesser men would have crumbled by the halfway point. Ali wasn't as fast or elusive as he was in the past, but he showed many flashes of brilliance in that fight and it is oftentimes an underrated performance. Certainly not a clinic, nor was it Ali's best fight, but he defended that belt with balls and brains. He even went after Shavers towards the end attempting to finish him off which is something many fighters don't even bother doing nowadays even when they're well ahead and have plenty of energy. Entertain the crowd dammit!

 

Eh, Shavers is speaking with a bit of Ali worship in there.

 

Of course he wasn't. He was surviving a lot on heart, instinct and memory. Very good in small infrequent patches would be the best i'd proffer.

 

Not sure about Norton. Norton may've beaten Ali at this point in his career but he would've been flattened by Shavers as he was less than 2 years later.

 

Hmm that's actually a tough question to answer. Not sure he was a great fighter in terms of skill at this point, but the fact that he still had enough to withstand and beat the consensus hardest puncher in heavyweight history in his condition is definitely a testament to his greatness. I've always found this to be a very underrated win.