Before I start I'm not debating Shaver's power and technique with striking but for someone who had a lot of power, he seemed to freeze when getting bombed on, were they just clean shots, or was Shaver's chin was tragic?
He didn't have a great chin, though I wouldn't say it was truly awful. He had a tendency to get stunned a lot due to his come forward style that left him open and also less mentally prepared to take return fire, and he didn't generally have the survival instincts to weather the storm. His poor stamina sometimes led to stoppages as well, as it did vs Cobb.
Leftsmash, You make a good point, Earnie sometimes froze when he got hit. But his chin wasn't fragile to the point of when he got it he went down automatically. In the Ron Lyle fight, Earnie was clocked with tremendous punches and still remained upright, until finally collapsing from exhaustion. He took bombs.
Pepe, thank's for the reply, I was thinking that shortly afterward about Lyle, and no question about Lyle's power, earnie had the build to think one could take a decent hit but I always think back to the match with quarry looking at how the smaller man won there.
He was a guy that could lose his legs after a shot and get the clumsies. He's in big big trouble without balance and trying to kill the clock waiting to get them back. But he would continue to try his best regardless and what esle can you ask of a guy?
I don't think Earnie ever went down from 'one' solid blow. In several of his TKO losses, he took tremendous punches before collapsing.
I think it's comparable to Ken Norton. It's less of a deficient chin, and more of his freezing under fire, rendering his already mediocre defense useless, and giving the opponent an opening to batter him to defeat with impunity. The WORST thing to do when hurt is allow an opponent to swing away. Jerry Quarry should have never gotten off like he did when he finished Earnie.
Earnie, Just never learned the 'art' of slipping punches, or clinching his opponent when hurt. I don't think we ever saw Earnie tie up his opponent when stunned. He had a bad habit of leaning forward, and putting his hands on each side of his head.
Only ever to Earnie Shavers on a single or a double shot. Even George Foreman had to pound him with some huge shots in succession to pull the trick. Garcia rocked Norton over and over before putting it together. Gerry Cooney? That was a hailstorm, no one punch. I see many similarities; Ali never managed to seriously hurt Norton, and he had Shavers ready to go, so Ken can hold up in an analysis. I think Ron Lyle's kayo of Shavers is the very definition of highlight reel, he had him dead to rights.
I think Earnie had a good chin, I seen him rocked against Ellis before he landed the bomb. He took multiple shots vs Quarry and Stander and most of the time he was gassed when battered....Earnie had a problem with stamina but was always dangerous in spurts
Shavers chin is under rated. Why do I say this? With the exception of the Quarry fight, Earnie usually was stopped from an accumulation of with punches often associated with exhaustion. Quarry is the only one I can think of that took Shavers out early. Ellis has him hurt in round one of their fight, but Earnie got him first.
