Wlad Klitschko vs Earnie Shavers

Let's face it, neither of these guys have the best chins and both of these guys have great knockout power. But Wladimir has proven since his last loss that he can be very (yeah, boring) measured and follow a frustrating gameplan for an opponent at a significant height disadvantage, as Shavers would be. If Shavers could drop Wlad with the bomb he got on Holmes, I don't see Wlad taking it but can he get there before being knocked out himself? Wlad should be the favorite but betting on either guy would be pretty risky.

 

:think Thats funny werent you just talking about how mentally strong,and what a big heart Wlad had yesterday(in the top hw thread) now you are wondering if hell have a panic attack:huh

 

I think there are two sides to this.

The first is that he never quit. Sanders knocked him down four times, pretty hard knockdowns, but he kept rising to his feet and wanting to continue until the referee ended it. Against Peter he rose from the canvas 3 times (legit KD's or not) and continued to dominate the rounds. In his other losses against Purrity and Brewster he kept going until his corner and the referee, respectively, ended the fight. Regardless of how you look at it, Wlad has shown no quit in him.

Then the other side is that he may have had some sort of panic attack against Brewster. Personally i think he simply punched himself out. He didn't pace himself well and did too much weight training - Fritz Sdunek, his trainer at that time, only let him spar 4 rounds per day. However, he has been in other fights, for instance against Mercer, where he threw 50-60 punches a round for 6 rounds with no trouble at all. So this does give the panic-attack theory legs to stand on. It happened once but he's learned from it and did just fine against Thompson with a huge cut from a headbutt in the 2nd round.



As for this fight, i'd be pretty confident in back Wlad. His durability is lacking, but so is Earnie's. There is a gigantic gap in skill here, plus Wlad has a formidable 6 inch height and 40lbs weight advantage. I think it will be similar to Holmes vs Shavers, the difference being that Wlad punches a lot harder and is very likely to lay Earnie out before the 6th.

But of course, Shavers can win at any moment if he lands that right hand well enough...

 

Yey well i was hoping to hear what he had to say about it, who are you? Captain Save a Suzy Q He would know that i never said Wlad didnt have heart. I said Wlad Mental strength wasnt his best attribute. Which he kind of acknowledged there when he talked about him possibly having a panic attack.

 

no it definietly connected. it wasn't because of shavers pure power that he fell over More because Ali was sore and hurt and it mightve even been from exhaustion too
I'm pretty sure It connected.

 

People exaggerate this change in Wlad, yes hes more cautious but people think that means he can't be hit/ko'd. WLAD IS NOT A DEFENSIVE GENIUS. He has not fought any fast starting dangerous punches with quick hands in a long time. Hence his tight guard, jab and clinch work for him

Against Shavers he is facing a very fast starter, who throws allot quickly with pure venom. That doesn't mean he necessarily loses but its a big risk for him. He could also KO Shavers early, he should stop Shavers late or win a wide UD if Shavers doesn't KO him

 

I too think Wlad would TKO Shavers in the mid rounds. But I'm not sure. \
This isn't going the distance.

 

my thoughts (from what little they're worth) is that while wlad is easy to knock down, he's real hard to keep down.

most likely scenario is similar to holmes/shavers 1 and wlad wins a comprehensive decision, never quite committing to his power enough to knock down or knock out shavers but dominates bell to bell

less like scenario is that wlad gets caught, either way getting careless or shavers just catching him, and despite going down he gets up and jabs his way to a boring decision

i really like shavers but from what i've seen, despite incredible power, was not the most skilled finisher and would likely let wlad get away

 

shavers could ko wlad but then shavers if he lands he could ko a lot of good heavyweights but wlad has the jab to stiffle shavers and win by a ko after the 8th but more than likely wlad would settle for a pts win or a very late ko

 

I never make a fighter a favorite soley on the bases of a " puncher's chance ", and that's about all Earnie has here.. He is dratically outmatched in almost every area including skill, size, stamina, style chemistry and perhaps even speed ( though neither fighter is very fast. ) We can talk all we want about Shaver's power against Wlad's weak chin, but Earnie's whiskers are no better than Wlad's, and Klit has more than enough power to take him out with one shot... The deal maker is going to be who had the ability to manefest an attack first, and I don't see Shavers as being able to land anything meaningful enough in a timely manner, before Wlad has him trouble.. I also need to comment on the fact that Shavers was a one dimensional right hand fighter, and Wlad's stoppages were almost exclusively caused by left hooks - something Earnie doesn't have much of...

CONCLUSION - This is a mismatch..

 

People forget what a dangerous hook Earnie had. He dropped Jimmy Young with it twice (the only two times Young was ever floored), knocked down Lyle with that left, and initially stunned Norton with a hook. He got up to knock out Sims, and stopped big guys like Tiger Williams and Joe Bugner.

I assume we're talking about the Shavers of 1976 and 1977, who was able to out jab Henry Clark over ten, and go a solid 15 rounds with Ali. Earnie had an 80" reach to go with underrated hand speed. He did not absorb punishment well, but his chin wasn't so weak that a single shot would do him in. Lyle needed six rounds to land him, and Mercado seven, while he took tremendous punishment from Quarry before going down. He stood upright against Holmes at a time when Larry was dropping and stopping Weaver and Evangelista as the result of single shots, and nearly put down Ocasio for the full count with a single jab.

Logically, Wlad should win, but Earnie would need just one punch, and the target here is not an Ali/Cobb like chin.

Does Wald get up from the shot Earnie floored Holmes with, or survive the round if he somehow does manage to make it to his feet? From 1975 to 1982, defeating Earnie required either an ATG granite chin (Ali, Cobb and Holmes) or the ability to recover from a knockdown (Lyle, Holmes, Mercado, Tillis). As long as Earnie is on his feet and the match is in progress, he can be deadly. Does Wald get up and recover from the ninth round bomb Shavers face planted Tillis with?

 

Shavers not skilled enough to hang with Wladdy Klit...... NO!!

MR.BILL

 

Wlad fights ultra-cautiously and wins by a late-TKO via poking away Shavers with a steady does of jabs

 

There's a chance for Shavers I think, and everyone knows what his chance is. Landing the right hand.

Imagine Shavers getting through with this:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-9HNnjTlew[/ame]

2:30

Or this:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9uyc3OZrqw[/ame]

4:15

Of course you could say that Wladimir has improved since then, but how many great right hand punchers has he fought? I wouldn't say that Chambers, Chagaev, Ibragimov are in that category.

Shavers's right hand wasn't just a powerful punch either, he landed it on every opponent he fought.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfQ56hSXGV0[/ame]

8:25 and onwards. 9:40.

Ali wasn't the only adept jabber Shavers caught with the right hand:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiM1FEWeNm4[/ame]

8:35