Your sarcasm doesn't change what I just said. Wilder, Wlad, Bruno, Lewis, Bruno, Liston, Foreman, Briggs etc - all can hit harder than Shavers
The way Tex Cobb spoke about Shavers power and Foreman said nobody hit like Shavers definitely supports "really hard". Holmes also said he hit harder than Tyson but he was probably bitter about the loss
I don’t know as far as contenders- who did he knock out? Ellis, Young- although that was only Young’s 11th fight and they fought again and it was a draw I believe. Norton?? Kenny was over the hill and did not fair well against punchers. He nailed Larry with one hell of a shot. And he had Ali hurt. So yeah I would say he punched hard. The hardest of all of them- I don’t know. I will say just my opinion if he would have had some skills to go with that power he would have went a lot further. He probably beats Holmes and Ali. But he just didn’t have the skills to do so. Take the Holmes fight for instance- not saying any of these guys hit harder but say a Ali, Tyson, Foreman, Frazier you get the picture had Larry in that kind of trouble they finish him off. Larry would finish someone off in that kind of trouble. But I will also say that his power is the reason we talk about Earnie today!!!!!
Conversely, though, what you said gives him no reason to abandon his sarcasm. As I've frequently noted, simply making un-argued declarations of what would happen seems pretty unsuccessful as a strategy to persuade people of your views.
I've read Ali, Holmes, Norton, Cobb and Tillis among others claim him to be ridiculously powerful, most of them claiming him to be the most powerful they fought. They know more than we pretend to.
Anyway, Shavers was one of the hardest punchers of the (mostly) pre-PED, (mostly) pre-weight training era. Interestingly, he himself did lift weights. He put everything into his punches, his peers all said he hit super hard, he gave some evidence of having the quick twitch leg muscles (witness his Superstars sprint time), he KO'd a bunch of people, his contemporary Foreman came back and became a hard puncher in the 90s (and common opponents rated Shavers as at least on Foreman's level); and Shavers hurt, dropped, or stopped almost every contender he faced, etc. Now, was Shavers the hardest puncher of all time? I dunno. He hit really, really hard, though. Belongs in the conversation.
Liston was about the exact same weight. First career Foreman often coming in dehydrated to to Saddler, not much heavier. All of these guys you names hit super hard. It is impossible to know, but Shavers may have hit harder than all of them. Or not, either way it is at least close. But the Law of Diminishing (or no) Returns above a certain size argues he may have. Some pure force measures involving throwing a ball or batting one, the fastest or furthest throwing or hitting guys may not be very big-the very possibly fastest man ever was a medium size man. The commonality he shared with Shavers is everyone who saw (or fought in the latter case) said he was tops. Knock out like KOs depend on many factors including various skills, so it proves nothing. This man had endless witnesses, many becoming Major League players & Managers, as #1. And at most he was 5'10"-5'11", & a non-hard body 170-180 alcoholic lbs. Who never pitched a day in the Big Leagues. Some guys are genetic freaks who have factors of kinetic efficiency & muscle fiber types & flexibility that belie the usual correlations-which diminish anyway after a certain size. It is worth it to go a few search pages in to absorb the totality of evidence for this man. Meet [url]Steve Dalkowski[/url].
As has been mentioned on this site...his "legend" is based on a lucky punch against former WBA champ...Jimmy Ellis. Shavers had major stamina issues...never had a KO past the 7th round...didn't carry his power into the later...rounds...and was a lousy finisher
Hmm?,,,,Ali said he was the hardest hitter he ever faced, Holmes said he was the hardest hitter he ever faced, Norton said it also. As a matter of fact anyone who fought Shavers said that . Those are much better opinions than your own.
