i agree with this and while i don't think he necessarily hit shot for shot harder than earnie i think he'd stop people shavers couldn't.
It's too difficult to offer a truly informed opinion here, as the footage I've seen isn't too good, and there are too many variables to consider (gloves with less padding, absence of mouthpieces etc) If I had to guess though, I would say he may punch harder than Trinidad (who was not AS DEVASTATING above the 147lbs mark, although this had a lot to do with being outboxed by three of his opponents) and probably not as powerful as Hearns, whose power was nothing short of incredible. But I'm not confident in that choice!
I believe Shavers had the most power of the three listed. Nat Fleisher said Fitzsimmons was the best all time knockout puncher circa 1965. He saw Dempsey, Louis, Jeffries, Marciano, and Liston! While it is only one mans opinion, even if he was not correct you have to think it would be darn close. I do believe Fitzsimmons hit harder than Marciano did, and might have had better one punch power than Louis. The difference of course if Marciano had a better chin than Fitzsimons, and Louis had better finishing ability. In the 2004 Olympics, team USA was invited to test their power on a spring loaded PSI machine. Neither the heavyweight or the super heavy had the hardest punch tested. The honors went to Jeff Lacy, who happened to be 168 pounds.
Well, we know Fitzsimmons had enough to stop a good 200 Ilb heavy (Ruhlin), a very tough approx. 180 Ilb heavy (Tom Sharkey). He didn't have enough to stop the larger Jeffries, but we should remember Jeff' was exceptionally rugged even for his pounds. Regarding Fitzsimmons and Jeffries respective performances against Sharkey: I guess that's in Fitzsimmons favor a little. I don't know that Jeffries couldn't stop Sharkey. Remember that Jeffries had a bum left the second time he met Sharkey.