Earnie Shavers Vs. Chris Byrd

Well, he fought to a draw with Young, so you'd probably be able to get a pretty good idea there, but I can't find footage of the fight now.
I've heard that it was a highway robbery and that Jimmy should've won, which makes sense considering that he'd get bummed in decisions most of the time, but who knows.

 

Jimmy was also extremely green in their first fight, he was 7-3, while Shavers was 42-2.

 

Shavers actually didn’t do that bad against slick boxers. He gave problems to Ali, Holmes, Young and Tillis. My first instinct is to pick Byrd by decision ( which could happen ) but Earnie has a fighting chance here.

 

Considering Byrd's own chin, and the fact that Shavers isn't as limited as a guy like Tua, I'd actually bet on a prime Shavers to take it.

 

It could happen

 

I'd lean towards Shavers.

While he has the rep for being slick, Byrd was not on Young's level of prowess in the negative defense stakes. Byrd actually shipped a fair bit of leather in his time. Young was also bigger and tougher, in my opinion.

So, I think Shavers would get to Byrd and take this out of the judges hands, at some point.

 

I fancy Byrd to give him a boxing lesson. Shavers always seemed kind of limited and on the slower side to me. A good version of Byrd would make him miss and then pay.

 

Providing it doesn't go past 7 rounds...Shaver didn't have a KO after the 7th round...

 

Shavers by assassination in the middle with a space overhand.

 

He rose off the canvas to knockout Tiger Williams in round 10 in 1976. But I agree that it was a rare occurrence

 

He's been informed of the Williams fight God knows how many times and ignores whoever mentions it.

As for the fight, Shavers knew how to throw a right hand lead without a jab, and he had one hell of a right hand. Southpaws are generally weak to right hand leads, and Byrd was slick but not impossible to stop. I'm going to guess that Byrd is ahead maybe 7 rounds to 2, and then gets caught by a nuclear overhand and that ends the match.

 

If Holmes wasn't Holmes, he would've had a really notable one. Lol

 

Young had one of the biggest hearts of the 70s, but doesn't get much acclaim for it. Slugged it out with Ali, Foreman, Norton, Lyle, Shavers, and even was doing fine against Cooney before the infamous mask of blood covered his face.