He may well have beat an ageing Holmes twice (disputed), But how's Michael Spink s do against the blasting power of Earnie Shavers?? We'll use the Shavers that blasted Norton here. 15 Rounds.
8:52 good hand speed Shavers hands were quick enough to catch a prime Larry and his reach would help him v Spinks too, if Shavers went to the body like this he`d beat Spinks. @BlackCloud You once berated me for underestimating Shavers.
I know Earnie really does have an 'a' in his first name...but it has always driven me completely batsh!t.
He's awkward is the Jinx tho, mark. But saying that 15 Rounds? Can Spinks avoid those crunching shots for that lengh of time?
Being a career heavyweight wouldn’t help Shavers. Just think Spinks has height and reach and speed advantage here and would weigh about same as most of Shavers’s 1970’s opponents. Spinks boxes the hell out of Shavers and stays outside until Shavers gases out and gets stopped. As for Spinks staying out of trouble he keeps his opponent at the end of his jab and wouldn’t give a **** how good or bad he looked doing it.
Cooney was hung over from alcohol and drugs or he would have KO'd Spinks. Shavers would catch Spinks and it would be over.
Because he was scared ****. I know what you’re saying but Shavers never had that intimidating factor of Liston, Foreman or of course Tyson. Don’t forget Tyson’s speed and he was undefeated. Shavers never had these things. Of course if he lands one it’s curtains for Spinks but Spinks wouldn’t trade with him. He wasn’t intimidated by Cooney and he was a huge puncher.
Ali was already over the hill by this stage. And Shavers really paced himself for 15 otherwise this would have been like Holmes vs Shavers 2. Shavers staggering around completely ****ed Ali no longer able to finish opponents just throwing everything at him until either the towel gets thrown in or ref stops it.
I’m favoring spinks. Of course an unexpected and well placed right hand from Shavers could deck anyone, but by that logic Jerry Quarry, Bob Stallings, and Ron Lyle should have lost to him too. Spinks was more durable than given credit for even at heavyweight. He had good power, agility, stamina and was ten times more skilled than Shavers. I’m going with spinks by late stoppage.
Shavers would have been too much for Spinks. Spinks would have been stopped the moment Shavers landed anything clean.
