I was just watching this fight, and it's probably one of the worst ref jobs I've ever seen. Roy had Shavers out on his feet and the ref gives a standing 8 long after he should have called the fight. The the way the ref handled things just looked delayed. Also it's the only fight I've been able to see Williams in. I haerd he was a dangerous contender, and this guy looks like a beast. Big, tall, and his shots just look powerful.
I'll tell ya what, Earnie showed a lot of heart coming back from that onslaught to dust Williams. A referee has to trust his instincts when determining if a fighters had enough. Obviously Shavers wasn't ready to go yet.
Williams was not really anything great, he lost a decision to Glass-jawed Richard Dunn, who was ko'd 11 times, 4 times in the 1st round, he was Big for the time but also lost to Jeff Merritt, Henry Clark, Larry Middleton, Williams had size and was pretty durable but nothing to write home about, Shaver came back from being hurt though and was a good fight for Earnie and a confidence builder, coming back late
I think You're selling Tiger a bit short. Williams had never been Ko'd prior to facing Shavers, and in fact knocked out 17 of his 23 victoms. Roy was a rather tuff fighter who could have given most top heavyweights a difficult time during the late 70's.
