Good one,Fergy. If Frank can get his bombs in first then he definitely has a shot. But the longer fight goes on Earnie would be the favourite in my opinion. 60/40 Shavers.
An obvious and most popular bet that it ends on a stoppage and doesn’t go the distance would seem to be easy money but then my wallet has still not forgiven me for thinking there was no way that Wlad Klitschko vs David Haye would go the distance.
The only thing I'll say about this match up even though Shavers could be stopped early. I think he showed he could recover from being hurt and he could take a sustained beating and still be dangerous. Shavers survived a wicked right hand from Jeff Sims that floored him and basically almost knocked him out and he recovered. Shavers survived a war vs Roy Williams and comeback to stop him late on. Shavers took a sustained beating from Holmes in their 2nd fight but remained dangerous throughout. I don't think Bruno is capable of taking a sustained beating nor do I think he can recover from being hurt quite as well as Shavers. Once Bruno was hurt he pretty much stayed hurt. The only example of Bruno surviving a moment of crisis was against Jumbo Cummings and even then Bruno was very lucky that was right on the bell. Because if that had been 30 seconds earlier in the round Bruno would've been gone I'm pretty sure. So based on the fact Shavers can recover better than Bruno and has shown he can take a bit more of a beating. I'd make Shavers a slight favourite. There is always the chance that Bruno could bomb Shavers out early which is very possible he's bigger with a longer reach. But I just feel Shavers would catch Bruno at some point and then finish him off.
yes, I seen Shavers lose to a few guys who could avoid his bursts and bring him into the later rounds or catch him early like Quarry or Bob Stallings who - other guys like Tex Cobb and Bernardo Mercado and Ron Lyle traded and outlasted him. Shavers was always dangerous but gassed often and Bruno was strong - he got caught by Tyson but took some good shots. He had a good chance vs Shavers but need to keep his range and avoid the hand mines.
Wow short and explosive !! Frank has the better jab both are capable sparking each other out .I fancy Bruno to set up with his jab and land a finisher . Don't leave the room to put the kettle on !!!
I see the reasons why people might favor Frank, but mostly he crapped out in big fights and his shortcomings would get exposed — and this mythical matchup would be a big fight. I think Earnie breaks through, probably behind, but Bruno lingers a little too long in range and bang … Shavers turns it with one big punch and follows up to finish it. It comes down to this for me: The people picking Frank would pick him over Bonecrusher for all the same reasons had they never fought … yet we all know how that turned out. Hell, Jumbo freaking Cummings all but ended Frank, who iirc got a little extra help from a friendly Brit ref to survive it. And Jumbo was no Earnie Shavers.