Well...Those in the know & who fought him did not say he was the Greatest or tout his overall skill. It is pure & mainly single shot power they trumpeted. Which anyone expert enough in boxing knows may be enough (with a modicum of skills) to make you World Class, but not to beat most of the best fighters. So his results really did match up with his reputation. Nobody said that they were surprised Shavers did not go further, or even that he never won a championship. With many governing bodies, he likely would have.
Holmes was inactive for years in '87. Thus his resilience & oiverall ability inmproved. Also Tyson had already hurt him with what finished him-great combinations.
Holmes said later that after the third Tyson knockdown he thought "if I get back up he'll just knock me down again", so he just played dead and got paid.
Might be true. Might not be. I'm a big fan of him, but he's pretty boastful, and I think tweaks his retelling and explanation of things to cast himself in a better light. Better to say "i stayed down" than "i got ktfo". I like when guys make no excuses. I love the Shavers interview after Quarry steamrolled him. He basically said "Yeah, he got me. He's tough."
I don't believe Holmes was knocked out myself, and I don't believe he'd lie about it. Holmes made it clear he was only there for the money, and he wrote in his book he could hear the ref call the fight off. He was never actually knocked out, the fight was over anyway. But hey, choose to disbelieve him. Never knew Larry to be especially dishonest.
w I don't know man... Feels like Holmes was lying since he stumbled and almost fell to the ground after he got up from the 2nd knockdown, Then I watched it frame by frame on the ko and the way his head shook was too real. But who knows it's maybe just my inner Tyson Fanboy.
Holmes was out. He might not even remember how bad. There's no quit in Holmes if he could have made any attempt to rise he would have.
I believe Jimmy young rated shavers as the hardest man who hit him which says a lot given all the punchers he fought
There's multiple guys that fought both Foreman and Shavers that all rated Shavers the top puncher. There's like 5 or 6 of them and that's just insane really.
My friend guys like him may be overwhelmingly honest, but most boxers shade the truth when their ego is involved. Such as how common it is to rate guys skill & power based upon how well they did against them Which makes Shavers unusual-everyone win or lose, KOed or survived said he hit the hardest. As others note, it does look like he was down & out. Foreman became a good guy, but he exaggerates & tells stories-but in his case, often to the effect of being modest. If Holmes needed to say he chose to stay down, it is an understandable conceit. Anyway besides a bit of a stylistic disadvantage, an older very inactive Holmes was not going to beat Tyson. Likely not even in their primes.
