Earnie Shavers v.s Jersey Joe Walcott

Neither was a blowout within a handful of rounds.

The Lyle fight was a complete war, as was the Mercado fight.

 

Earnie definately had durability problems both from a chin and stamina perspective. He was also very one dimensional in his fighting style. His incredible power is what saved him from dropping to journeyman status. Although I would give Shavers a puncher's chance against almost anyone, I think Walcott brings too much to the table for him. Joe would be constantly out moving and outclassing Earnie, and even stinging him with those left hooks of his. Shaver's only real chance is to knock him out early, but the odds are not in his favor. Walcott rarely stayed down when he was decked, and as the fight progressed he'd be taking control all the way.

Walcott by stoppage mid to late rounds.

 

Jersey Joe's got too much skill, ring intelligence, and stamina. My guess is that Shavers would gas around the mid-range part of the fight (maybe a little later, like round 9), and Walcott TKO's him on accumulation.

 

Walcott wasn't "KO'ed often." He was only stoppped by Louis and Marciano in the last 12 years of his career. You needed to be an absolute legend and a monstrous hitterto knock him out. Ordinary fighters with big punching power (Ray, Sheppard, Gomez, Murray) utterly failed to dent his chin. A far cry from Shavers, who was blown out in one round by Quarry and knocked out by Lyle during his peak.

 

Shavers was also KO'd by Ron Stander and beaten and dropped in his prime vs Bob Stallings, Shavers was not in no where in Walcotts class

 

Yes, but he was green against Stander and wasn't actually knocked out against Stallings, so I excluded those fights. The Quarry and Lyle fights already pretty well demonstrate that Shavers isn't on Walcott's level.

 

True

 

In his prime Walcott was only stoped by all time great punchers and always later in the fight.

This suggests to me that Shavers would not close the deal before he ran out of steam.

 

If Joe should get the knockout, I doubt it will be by imposing his brawn on the monster Shavers (although results were frightening when Walcott actually committed to a punch). Rather, it will be because Earnie was an extremely weak finisher. This could very well end up similar to the fight with Larry Holmes where Shavers, fatiguing late into the fight as usual, was systematically worn down by volleys of 'toothless' punches.

I'm predicting a decision win for Walcott here, but a knockout as I described it is equally likely.

 

It took the greatest puncher of all time louis 23 rounds to catch walcott, marciano one of the greatest punchers ever 13 rounds to catch him, and ferocious punchers like elmer ray 33 rounds, hatchetman sheppard 18 rounds, were all unable to catch him near walcotts best.........yet shavers is going to do it in 1-2 rounds?

If anything the quarry-shavers fight showed us walcott might end this fight in round 1, if he starts out like he did in marciano-walcott I

 

Much depends on Walcott. Walcott could look great, or get clipped by a lesser person. Sometimes he would box circles around so and so, other times, he’d shy away from the action and lose via decision.

I think Shavers power would bother Walcott. If Walcott fought smart, I think he wins. If he tries to get cute as he did in the 2nd Louis fight, Shavers would get him.

Some say Shavers lacked stamina. Not entirely true. If people watch a full Shavers fight, they might be surprised at his skill level. What is hardly discussed is Walcott legs did not always bail him out either.

50/50.

 

Shavers is no Louis and no Marciano.

In my opinion he is closer to the level of Shephard Gomez and other bangers that Walcott dealt with.

 

Exactly. Walcott clearly had no problem dealing with power when it wasn't accompanied by top-notch supplementing assets. Walcott easily went through guys like Gomez, Sheppard and Murray, who were thunderously forceful hitters, but were lacking boxing skill, stamina or durability. Ray did the best of all the big-punching contenders Walcott faced, and that was mostly because Ray also had good speed and technique. Walcott made crude, chinny bangers look like monkeys and took them apart.

 

Walcott punked out vs Layne, and lost on points

Walcott was KO'd by Simon.

Walcott lost on points to Fox and was also KO'd by Fox

Walcott was not a gimme vs punchers at all, and Shavers for my money was better than Layne, Simon, or Fox.

I think Shavers starts faster than either Louis or Marciano ( also punchers who beat Wlacott ), and hit harder.

 

The Simon and Fox fights were way outside of Walcott's prime, as you should be well aware, and are not a fair point of comparison in this discussion. I might as well say "Shavers was KO'd by Brian Yates, who was 5-16-2! Why does this thread even exist???" You're not being reasonable if you use these fights as an argument.

He did legitimately lose to Layne, but Layne was fighting more of a swarmer/accumulation-puncher style than a stalker like Shavers (accounts describe Layne throwing bushels of punches and battering Walcott to the body up close), and, though the fight was in his prime, it can be pointed out that this was one of Walcott's "off" nights- he was about five pounds heavier than usual, a heavy favorite (Walcott was a guy who usually performed best while he was an underdog or the odds were close, and tended to be lackluster in fights where he was overwhelmingly "expected" to win), and fought lackadaisically as though he were "going through the motions" that night.

Even still, the Layne fight is the best example to use to suggest that Shavers has a serious chance against Walcott. That said, Shavers' fights with Quarry and Stallings make for a heck of a lot stronger argument in the opposite direction, as do all the rest of a prime Walcott's fights with hard-hitting contenders.And your favorably-contrasting-Shavers-with-Louis-and-Marciano thing is waaaaaaayyyy out there- it's possible Shavers hit a little bit harder and was a little bit faster starter than Louis and Marciano, but that doesn't even come mildly close to making up for all the glaring deficits he has compared with them- and Louis and Marciano both just barely beat Walcott.