Great short interview with Shavers! This just came out. http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/my-career-earnie-shavers/ An excerpt: HARDEST PUNCHER I FOUGHT “TWO guys spring to mind in the late Ron Lyle, a very good friend of mine, and George Foreman. Lyle hit me the harder – the hardest I’ve ever been hit in my life! Lyle had a great right hand. We had a great fight [September 1975, a sixth-round stoppage for Lyle]. I had him down, he had me down. I’d say Lyle, Foreman and myself are the three hardest punchers in [heavyweight] history.” More interesting stuff in that article!
Nice post .. Only question is when did he ever get hit by Foreman ? They never fought .. did they ever spar or was it a general observation on his part ? Great comment on Lyle who so many here love to downgrade on the power scale .. The men hit by him, Foreman and Shavers say he was the hardest hitter they ever faced .. Lyle was limited but what a monster puncher ..
Shavers actually had good hand speed. It was his chin and stamina that let him down. Regarding Ali vs Shavers there was no controversy regarding the decision. Shavers entire strategy was the expend as little energy as possible until the last four rounds and then turn the tables on Ali to gain a ko win. Unfortunately Ali's chin was too strong and he had won eight of the first 11 rounds to seal a decision victory.
Shavers won it. Ali had a good rally in the 15th, but overall the big punches in the fight came from Earnie.
Again the fight outcome was not controversial. Ali had the bout won by the end of the 11th round. Shavers strategy was to not overextend himself and as a result he suffered in the scoring. If he had fought from the start as he fought the last four rounds scoring could have been different but Shavers would have never then be able to last the distance.
Funny what he says about the Holmes fight here "I got him down in the seventh, but he got up and I couldn’t finish him. He finally stopped me in the 11th. Larry had the great old-time trainers and they taught him all the tricks.”
I watched both of his bouts with Shavers live. Aside from that Herculean right hand both bouts were one sided boxing lessons.
Ali Shavers scoring: Referee: Johnny LoBianco 9-5 Ali Eva Shain 9-6 Ali Tony Castellano 9-6 Ali AP scorecard: 10-5 Ali UPI scorecard: 8-6-1 Ali
The reason the decision wasn't controversial was because they were showing the scores live between rounds. If you have the announcers --enchanted by Ali flitting around, flicking jabs that Earnie easily blocked-- declaring that Ali was winning the fight, then the casual fan watching in his living room on a Monday night just believed what they were told. All Ali had to do was dance, and people gave him points. The real bombs in the fight were landed by Shavers.
Shavers in most rounds did little but stand mid ring in a semi crouch with his gloves held up high. He won few of the first 11-12 rounds. Those h did win were by smashing blows but they were few and far between. He turned on the juice late but it was too little too late. Judges scoring. Refs scoring, AP and UPI all scored it for Ali fairly heavily. I watched the bout live and it was obvious Shavers was just not doing enough and I was rooting for Earnie. Can you post the scoring of those who scored it for Shavers? They are few and far between. Few as in practically non existent.