Having a sturdier chin would help him out in SOME of his fights. But, he still left a lot to be desired. From a skills perspective, he was rather one-dimensional. His legs, speed and stamina were nothing to write home about either. Also, to his credit he is known as a very nice human being, and one that apparently did not like hurting people - a wonderful thing for a good person to be, but not exactly conducive for boxing..
I don't think it was just his chin but his defense, wrecklessness and poor stamina/pacing that let him down. Plus he just fell in love with his power too much
Met the guy in Liverpool once and he was a perfect gentleman. The way I see it a fighter with a big punch and not much else will never achieve greatnes and neiter will a fighter who has a sturdy chin and not much else. If a fighter has a dynamite punch and a granite chin then he dosnt necisarily need much else to get to the top. Somtimes a crude but effective style with a few refinements is enough.
I agree to some extent, but not exclusively. Ray Mercer - though a very good fighter, never really reached the true top of the division, yet he possesed better than average power along with one of the most solid chins in history. Yes, I concur that in the heavyweight division, power + chin can take a man very far. But other things like stamina, agility, and most importantly, good skills are a must for any great fighter.
Shavers also started boxing fairly late. He added some tools later on in his career, such as a decent jab and some head movement, but he was already getting older then. His trainers probably didn't think there was any point in focusing on anything else other than his power and thus he ended up being rather one-dimensional. Not bad though, he came close to winning the title twice against Holmes and Ali, two of the greatest champions who ever lived. I think his overall best performance was against Muhammad Ali. I also don't think he necessarily had a bad chin. He never seemed to get used to being hit though but he did have a ton of heart.
Farther for sure, but he still was plodding and limited, and had shitty stamina. He'd still lose any fights where he was outboxed or ran out of gas (ie: Holmes), but the losses where he got "tagged" and was suddenly KO'd (ie: Quarry) might possibly have been reversed.
