Shavers was smaller than Lyle but also not as good a boxer. Foreman would impose his size and strength to force Shavers to back up quickly. I don't see how Ernie would be able to stand up to Foreman's punches. Foreman gets him in 1 or 2.
Again that makes more sense, George Foreman pre Zaire did not taste the canvas, the shell shocked post Zaire Foreman did, he tried to change his style, but he proved more vulnerable, Ron Lyle on Jan 24 1976 and Jimmy Young on March 17 1977, I was $ 10.00 richer on that one.
People overlook Shavers had a 79" reach .. not 73" like Frazier or even 76" like Lyle ... Earnie was also technically pretty sound .. he was crushed by Quarry because he went out to kill from second one and Jerry had a terrific chin and was a nasty counter puncher .. there is no doubt that if Shavers hit Foreman he'd hurt him bad .. the George that fought Lyle was sloppy and coming off long inactivity and was plagued w self doubt ... all said I pick George but it would have been a very dangerous fight ..
George goes down early, and barely gets up within the first 2 rounds, but when he does, Earnie will feel the heat and it's lights out in the fifth round.
Foreman takes the win. Better chin and heart. Probably a couple knockdowns by each before Shavers can't get up.
Holyfield said the single hardest punch he was hit by was thrown by old man George, but that Bowe was the guy who hit him with largest number of hard shots in a single fight. I point out that Tyson got off his trademark right hook right uppercut combo on Holyfield, yet Holyfield didn't mention him. That could be a purposeful mind**** though. For whatever this is worth.
Nice post. George was sloppy for Lyle and Earnie’s punch deliveries could be very technically sound at times. Earnie could also whip over some of his bigger shots at very good speed. Ali was older but aside from the power, Earnie caught him cold with the big right hand in rd 2. Once a fighter survives a life and death fight as Foreman did v Lyle, he often gets the benefit of the doubt in all other similar scenarios. That is a somewhat reasonable view but it perhaps also ignores that it was still life and death, which can be read as meaning that it could’ve gone either way. So the fighter who did prevail didn’t necessarily pull it off via a margin that would carry complete conviction into other similar instances, particularly when the opposing power of punch (Shavers) may be greater (than Lyle’s power v Foreman, that is). When it came down to it v Foreman, Lyle’s own ultimate victory in his 6 rd life and death shootout with Earnie might’ve been calculated to Ron’s advantage when the Foreman fight evolved into a similar power punch shootout. Of course George was a different beast again and his chin and heart helped to make the difference. Lyle’s best punch in that fight was his counter right hand and we know Earnie had a terrific right as well as his left. Overall point being, despite Foreman being a very fair pick v Shavers, it’s still a very dangerous fight and one that many seem to afford at least one KD in Earnie’s favour. No mean feat to put Foreman down and hardly desirable given George only hit the deck 3 times in his career. And he hit the deck hard, 1 x Ali (KO of course) and 2 x Lyle, clearly hurt at different times in both fights but more so and more often v Lyle.
