Earnie Shavers - The Best Puncher of the Century documentary (Great footage!)

That's why it's bizarre to me that so many people around here think you can only measure punching power according to how people fare against top-notch opposition. You know ridiculous punching power when you see (and hear) it.

 

Yes, it's a well crafted video!

 

Shavers career was alot of fun. He was devastating and flawed as well. He made u watch and pay attention though. Like pitching to Dave Kingman. You may get him but he may get you.

 

I agree. Another guy that is from the same mold is Mike Weaver. He could thrill you or infuriate you on any given night

 

Shavers his devastating power floored Larry Holmes and had Ali reeling around the ring and the rest of opponents on the canvas like bowling pins.

 

Earnie is one of my all time favorites, very glad to see this.

 

The hardest puncher ever in my view

 

For a 210 guy Shavers could really whack. He'd likely fight at cruiserweight today, cutting the ten pounds of water weight to make the limit, though he competed well enough against high class larger fighters to make a move up to HW feasible. He had a unique mix of heavy handedness and good punch mechanics that enabled him to turn his weight into a shot with maximum effectiveness. Usually fighters have one or the other, which I guess is why Shavers was able to get so much oomph out of his smallish frame.

His power was kind of inconsistent though. Sometimes he'd gas out throwing big haymaker shots and his power would drop off markedly after a couple of rounds; other times he'd retain his thudding heavy blows the length of the fight. It mainly depended on how he went about it the early stages.

Oh, cheers to the OP for the video by the way. Quite a bit of footage there that I'd never seen before.

 

Shavers could whack for a guy of ANY weight. He could well be the hardest hitter ever.

 

Also, it's kind of fashionable to say that all Shavers had was power, which is an erroneous view in my opinion. He was a more than decent enough boxer, with a solid, commanding jab, good ring command and effective low-key head movement. His power shots, when he threw them, were done with effective punch mechanics for the most part, though he did have a tendency to lunge when tired or when his opponent was hurt and trying to survive.

His overhand right (his money punch) was often set up with a left hook to the body, or thrown as a counter after a slight dip under a jab. His other shots were similarly set up. He rarely just threw shots out of left field like a rank amateur and hope to clip his opponent by sheer chance (not that anyone does that, but, well, it's sometimes implied of Shavers that he fought with a lot less craft than he did).

 

Nah, too many harder punchers at higher weights for that to be the case. He was a very heavy hitter P4P though.