Earnie Shavers vs. Gary Mason

Shavers by KO.

 

No matter who wins I can’t see it lasting very long either way. Shavers is a more proven on the world level but when you have two fighters who are comparably sized, hit like trucks and neither very solid in the chin or stamina department then it’s pretty much anyone’s fight.

 

What makes you think Mason didn't have a solid chin?

 

okay I’m willing to listen. How many times was it tested and by who ?

 

Mason was always a question mark for me.
After beating Biggs he was ready for a title shot and world ranked 3, however his opposition seemed to stagnate whilst his camp were more interested in his stable mate , Bruno.
Gary was then put in with Lewis and lost in a war.
This was a Euro title.
Eye damage at this point basically ended his career.
His only defeat being against an ATG.
I was always left feeling short changed on Masons behalf .
His career should have gone further .
For Bruno to have got so many title shots and Mason none was a travesty.
He was solid in every way and very durable.
Regarding the thread question I can't jump in and say he beats Shavers but can't make a case for why he couldn't/wouldn't either.
Shavers lost plenty of fights and Mason was world class.

 

Much closer fight than people think,

The sort of scrap I think Mason would win. He had a better chin than Shavers, and ok not as big a punch , But he could punch.

Could be wrong pick em fight, but I will go for Gary Mason

 

I can remember seeing him in the 1990 ring and alphabet ratings. The IBF, WBA and WBC all had him in their top 5 for a brief period. Ring had him down near the bottom. I didn’t see any of his fights until many years later when YouTube was invented which by that time he was long retired. His best win was presumably Tyrell Biggs who by their meeting in October 1989 had parted ways with the Duvas and had only scene one fight in two years ( a loss to Francesco Damiani. ) his only other notable fight was the loss to a 14 fight Lewis who was still years away from becoming a great. Mason had punching power and heart. Stayed active too. But it’s debatable as to whether or not he was truly world class. Perhaps arguments can be made.

 

I wouldn't say Mason was a very hard puncher. His KO% was deceptively high kinda like Vitali's one or Tucker's. But his resume was awful even compared to Vitali's or Tony's. His power didn't look devastating on the tape either. But I think he had proven to have a pretty good chin against Lewis. He took many clean punches from him and, while stopped on the cuts/swelling, never looked seriously hurt in the fight.

 

I agree the jury was out on him hence my comment that I always had a question mark regarding him.
I thought he deserved the chance to go further. I never understood the lack of progress after the Biggs fight, his career stood still after that point until the Lewis defeat.

 

I wish Gary could have carried on fighting after the Lewis but he had the eye injury of course.
Would have been interesting to see him in against the big names of the time.

 

With respect, you didn't say both had unproven chins. You wrote that neither had solid chins.

My post wasn't intended to claim that assertion as erroneous, but rather was written out of curiosity, wondering what had led you to believe Mason's chin wasn't solid.

I'm aware his only stoppage loss was as a result of a closed eye, but wondered if he had a history of being hurt that I was unaware of.

To answer your question, I wouldn't claim Mason's punch resistance is proven enough to call him iron chinned, but he did take a lot of punches from Lennox Lewis without (from memory) being wobbled. That, allied with never suffering a KD (from memory, could be wrong) or to my knowledge ever being visibly hurt (again, I could be wrong, hence my original question) in 38 fights, admittedly almost exclusively against non world level opposition, suggests his punch resistance wasn't weak.

I've only watched a few Mason fights all the way through, so to reiterate my initial question, asked with a friendly curiosity, what makes you think Mason had a less than solid chin?

 

Mason late stoppage. Gary had the better boxing skills and a very solid chin. His massive head would take a pasting early on but he'd take over from the midway point and dominate from then on, to force a stoppage around the 10th.

 

The best answer that I can give was that it was untested.

 

a pas# prime Biggs is nowhere as good a s a prime Shavers

mason had a gloss# record bu# faced no con#enders un#il Lewis
Shavers ko