Earnie Shavers Power?

Earnie had a great way with hip rotation, and when he shortened up his punches he could be awe-inspiring.

If Earnie had been a better finisher (for some reason, a lot of the time after he got somebody down he went fruit loops) he probably would have won the title imo.

 

THat dude that sparred all them guys and then Wlad probably was just softened up by all the other guys first. That's a lot of damage to take before you get to another puncher.

 

Peter Maher likely hit harder than a lot of guys mentioned here. He had a lot of early KOs in an era of long fights and very tough fighters.

 

So what you are saying is that Frazier and Cooper hit harder than Shavers because they put Ali down and Shavers didn't?

Omar Sheika put Thomas Tate down and Julian Jackson didn't so would that make Sheika a harder hitter than Jackson? Eduardo Ayala also took him the distance yet was stopped by multiple other guys.

 

I can't believe it's taken 4 pages and we only have one mention of Wilder

 

He punched harder!
He was able to push his oponents around like ping pong balls!
He punched harder which he peoves by better KO ratio and facing better oponents!
Hell he did better against Byrd than his brother and his brother never faced anyone close to Lewis caliber!
Vitali KO ratio against better people proves he was harder puncher!

 

Vitali punched harder!
He was able to push his oponents around like ping pong balls!
He punched harder which he peoves by better KO ratio and facing better oponents!
Hell he did better against Byrd than his brother and his brother never faced anyone close to Lewis caliber!
Vitali KO ratio against better people proves he was harder puncher!
I guess it's impressive in its own way that he KO'd 41 of his 47 opponents with arm punches...

 

Only you are embarassing yourself troll!
Wladimir Klitschko - 49 wins/44 KO's - 90 KO%

Vitali Klitschko - 35 wins/34 KO's - 97 KO% I guess it's impressive in its own way that he KO'd 41 of his 47 opponents with arm punches...

 

I’m sure he had power, but his 1st round KO record was a sham. His opponents were mostly plants. Guys who only ever fought one or two professional bouts, only against Maher.

 

Records from that era are very incomplete. Besides, he still stopped O'Donnell, Jeffords, Butler, Daly in one round. Not to mention his longer stoppages of Godfrey, Burley, Craig, Slavin, Choynski, CC Smith, Goddard, McCabe, Kennedy, Klondike and others. Maher is a proven puncher and he faced top competition.

 

You’re just listing names. Who among them was noted for their durability and why would a win over any of them put him into consideration for hardest puncher of all time? I didn’t say he couldn’t fight or couldn’t punch. I said his KO record was a sham, and it was. By design.

 

Anyone can be knocked out fighting monsters like Foreman and Shavers. Norton avenged his loss to Garcia. He was clearly washed up against Cooney and hardly threw a single shot. No matter what anyone says, you can't take anything from Shavers because Norton was ranked #1 and had given hall of famer Larry Holmes the fight of his life in the fight of the year just 9 months prior. End of discussion.

I never said that this ONE fight proves Shavers hit harder. But combined with the testimony of literally every common opponent (Lyle, Ali, Young, Caldwell) it is very illogical to assume they're all wrong. It's the simplest explanation. Foreman is clearly the more dangerous fighter due to his superior boxing ability, chin, better technique, and being the better finisher. He had a stronger jab and uppercut, better body puncher, and was a heavier puncher than Shavers (clubbing power), but Shavers quite clearly had more explosive 1 shot power in his right cross and left hook. Cooney's hook was ridiculously powerful and might have been comparable to Shavers but the rest of his punches werent very noteworthy.

Caldwell explains that Foreman was like a beating booming drum (going through you with sheer mass) while Shavers was more sharp and explosive. This is the exact same analogy Arreola made when comparing Vitali to Wladmir and Wilder:

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There are different types of punchers in the world. Vitali and foreman are sledgehammer clubber types, shavers, Wladmir, and Wilder are explosive whip/grenade types. Then there's a 3rd category for guys who have really bony sharp knuckles. But what Caldwell is saying that in terms of the pain scale, Shavers' shot was more painful, not that Foreman didn't hit hard or that his punches didn't hurt. They felt different.

People ARE saying he wasn't one of the hardest hitters in this thread. That's why I wrote what I wrote.

 

5'11 and 182 lbs against mostly tomato cans who wouldn't make cruiserweight? Hell no. Even Jerry Quarry and Johanson could have KO'd a lot of those guys.

 

Maher fought many weaker boxers but he still faced the best competition available. He had the most KOs in HW history. He was basically the same size as Marciano and Dempsey, yet nobody question their power.

 

Fallon was stopped only twice, once by Maher.
Goddard was tough and durable brawler, Maher stopped before he became a shell of his prime self.
O'Donnell was big and he was stopped 6 times - 4 by Maher. Other than that he wasn't easy to stop.

I mean, Shavers didn't stop any elite and durable fighter. Why is he in this conversation?