Earnie Shavers' Power Quotes- An Explanation

Before I read all the responses, there are some factual & logical errors in your post.
First the quotes do not come only from those who were not knocked out by him. Did you not know that? On another recent threa someone tallied boxers who said he hit them the hardest.
In fact I know of nobody who he fought who disagreed.

Also I do not know if Ali was the first, I would have to check that.
But you are mistaken about having a "weak resume" for someone who hit ultra hard.
He fought many elite fighters, & anyway have you seen the tons of comments-some mine-that note that even scoring KOs is only in PART due to power?
It is one of many factors including accuracy, volume, speed, combinations (the latter couple increase the shock/surprise value & effect of a punch)---> & things that let you even get to that point-such as chin, defense & endurance.

The hardest hitter ever could have been so bad they had a mediocre of terrible record, ever consider that?

All those who rated Shavers #1 on concussive force-they could have boosted others they beat.
And some like Jimmy Young were smoked.
It begs credulity that all those folks who may have faced Monsters from Liston to Foreman to Tyson needed to pick *him" as #1 in all cases.
And that it would be rare to non-existent for nobody to be a contrarian.
Unless of course he really did hit that hard.
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It is impossible to know who hit the hardest ever.
But we can make it much more likely we are correct if we both observe the evidence intelligently & triangulate between opinions of boxers who faced some of the hardest hitters.

One of the smarter things to do is NOT just go by effects.
Tyson for example due to his speed, accuracy & combination SKILLS got even more *effect* out of his already high raw power than the vast majority of boxers.
But he did not hit near the hardest. A 9 out of 10 maybe, but I think even HE would agree that 3 men he faced 5 times, Ruddock, Bruno & Bonecrusher hit harder.
Maybe not the latter only because he was overwhelmingly a bone hugger...

But he would almost certainly admit that shot for shot of measurable force a few guys hit harder.
Oh PEDs do not necessarily increase your punch resistance; not that we have actual evidence that Ikebuchi was juiced. Tua was heavier & had more muscle per square inch, was he juiced? Anything is possible, but no cause to assume this.

If everyone regardless of fight outcome or plausible motivation say Shavers hit the hardest, & these guys often fought other massive punchers, it is highly likely he did.

Now whether he hit harder than anyone ever is unknowable.
Maybe a massive SHW or three could match or exceed him.
Or a guy who never ha the talent to even be widely known.

But Shavers is an excellent candidate for GOAT power.
And almost certainly the GOAT HW power pound for pound.

 

You definitely are a unique poster my friend. I like to call it abstract writing. Keep up the good work MoneyMain!!

 

You've been corrected on this half a dozen times or more. Try some honesty.

 

As the years slide by Shavers power being held in such high esteem seems to provoke more and more insecurity. Modernists are perhaps the most affected. Rabid followers of certain fighters are also inclined to be quite affected. It's always the same old tired arguments. Seldom if ever at any weight have we seen such a strong, consistent and universal appraisal of a fighters power.

 

I've always wondered about the exact chronology of these quotes also. Band wagon jumping can be a real thing and some might see it as a badge of honor to have been put out by Shavers.

Side Note: Rumor has it that Howard Hughes paid for the "pleasure" of being KO'd by Jack Dempsey in sparring. Don't shoot the messenger.

Back to Earnie, the weight of consensus testimonials can't be sneezed at. We don't have all the vision on Shavers but we do have quite a bit, particularly in respect of some of the more popular quotes in circulation. What we don't have is well comprised of notably lower tier opposition, many KO'd in other fights. I can't believe we don't have the Young fights though, they would be fantastic to see.

I can say for a fact that when praising Shavers' power straight after their fight, James Tillis made clear reference to Ali's own take on Shavers being the hardest hitter that he (Ali) ever faced.

I just wonder how much these testimonials comprise people's overall rating of Shavers' power. Suspending those quotes and basing it on just the available vision, would you necessarily have rated Shavers as THE hardest puncher? How much do Shavers' stocks increase in view of these quotes?

Also, I feel that Shavers' technique, accuracy and finishing abilities are being underrated to a degree, for the sake of arguing against his not securing KOs otherwise. As to stamina, reputable punchers often moot the question with KOs in the very early rounds as Shavers obviously did in a good number of fights. Earnie certainly got the punches home for TKO 3 against slickster Jimmy Young and imo, that isn't necessarily just a testament to his power alone. He also managed to knock Young down hard in the rematch which resulted in a draw.

Moving up in quality of opposition can see a general uplift in chin quality and the will to win and in some of those very instances, Shavers did get to land several big flush shots in proximity that one might've expected to perhaps have yielded more damage than they did.

 

it is real odd why take words from legends that are said as like something that cant be debunked

earnie hit hard for his era and before that doesn't make him the hardest hitter

I even said to cross which I have no problem with

if we have people that was outclassed in defense and movement named ali what makes earnie above being the hardest hitter he wasnt somebody who couldnt be above that category sense hitting hard is a category to in boxing

I said which is still fact in hw that dave with his hook hit way harder then anybody ever it's on video earnie never put fear in a person that way or have he damaged anybody that much from 1 hard strong punch

it's no way anybody can take ernie's mythical power cleaned named ali and still stand same with larry these men was ironed chinned/jawed

common logic says if a man is so called super hitting hard that it's no way a man supposed to take that many hard shots and be able to stand still no matter if his tech is bad

case George vs joe the man had to hit joe mutiple times with each drop another overrated puncher

agian I go back to my point of if ali has been outclassed in defense and movement what makes earnie above that he isnt he was a man like every other boxer he wasnt a mythical person to come alive to boxing

 

The fact that someone or a few *may* have hit harder than Shavers does not make it established or true.
You cannot keep repeating "legend" or "myth" & be convincing-one tally recently was 11 fighters-& I believe literally everyone who fought him-found he hit the hardest.
Men who faced Liston, Foreman, Tyson (who absolutely could not hit as hard, but was most efective re: speed, combinations, & sudden volume/punches not being able to be braced for).

It is in no sense a "fact" that either Tua hit harder, or that Tua hitting some Shavers landing on such as Ali would be knocked out.
It is literally just a judgement, an opinion.
Shavers KOed far more fighters than Tua at a higher rate with all his flaws.
We only have some of them on film.

Tua could not dent some folks like Lewis-he did land some-& if he had stayed a high volume fighter like against Izon & Ike he would have been better than following guys around looking for the salvation left hook.

Tua hit damn hard.
But there is a reason almost nobody thinks he hits as hard as Shavers.
And I think the opinion of everyone who fought him was not universal that he hit the hardest.
I would say he was up there with the hardest of his time.
And he both hit harder than Tyson & had a better chin & a bit more muscle.

But was not as good.

 

In conclusion, you hate Shavers.

Ali said he hit the hardest becuz he hit very hard. Every opponents who also said Shavers hit the hardest is becuz his punching power is incredible and they never tasted anything like that. This means that Shavers hit so damn hard that he consistently get quotes from everyone.

End of the story.

 

I have only seen hardcore Tua fans or a very small minority of extreme 90's/modern day fans ever claim Tua hit harder than Shavers.

He hit like a truck, and had shocking one punch power, but neither his record nor the testimony of opponents claims he was THE hardest hitter in his era. You kind of need one or the other for me to put a fighter in that category and he had neither.

Some of the same people diminishing Foreman's KO of Moorer claiming Moorer had a weak chin are sometimes the same people who make a big deal out of Tua KOing an even older and much worse version of Moorer.

They usually have no answer for how he couldn't put a dent in Byrd yet Ike and Wladmir splattered him.

Couldn't put a dent in Lewis who was taken out by relatively mediocre heavies such as McCall and Rahman who would be lucky to make a top 20 punchers list, let alone top 5.

Not Ustinov, a huge fairly hittable behemoth, who was stopped on 4 occasions.

Monte Berret in two attempts who has 7 stoppage losses

Shavers at least managed to stop or knock down some durable, cautious fighters such as Young, Bugner, Holmes, was the only one to KO Williams, and even dropped the iron chinend Cobb. His power wasn't just a fluke that only worked on tomato cans, glass jawed opponents or guys who stood right in front of him.

 

I must have missed that.

 

Those "high level" fighters who Earnie couldn't kayo are known for their chins. Like seriously tho.. Look the amount of rock solid chins that era have:

Jimmy Young - Very Durable
Jimmy Ellis - Very Durable
George Foreman - Extremely Durable
Muhammad Ali - Extremely Durable
Joe Bugner - Very Durable
PRIME Larry Holmes - Extremely Durable
Jerry Quarry - Extremely Durable
Tex Cobb - Extremely Durable
Roy Tiger Williams - Very Durable
Ron Stander - Very Durable

Non of Tyson's opponents are as durable as Shavers. Maybe some of them, but mostly no.

 

I dont focus on ko only like most why did earn even though hitting super hard had to give these dudes mutiple hard shots even to stop them let alone fall

 

yea he hit the hardest for his era and before not the whole history quotes cant go over future only a crazy people would believe that

in conclusion we dont hate the man we hate the odd thinking quotes matter over in ring outdated quotes that have no meaning ever compared to real video we have of proof of mutiple people sense 90s hitting harder and way harder then the mythical power of earnie which never existed

quote from money you believe words matter so this should mean something

 

Shavers wasn't a great finisher. Tyson was. They're kind of hard to compare.

 

you left out mike great ability at angles and speed which hit sensitive spots way better

earn never had those abilities we can compare though at mike being a counterpuncher and earn being a boxer mike as a counterpuncher was way better then earn at his style of fighting

earn is overrated as a puncher mike is not