Is Earnie Shavers a harder hitter than George Foreman?

His right hand was both a bit faster and more overall powerful.

Only Wilder's really compares given that paradigm.

 

Did Tyson ever hurt anyone with a jab? I know with his reach problem he didn’t land too many jabs, but I’d bet if he threw it with bad intent and actually landed it, it would hit hard. He had KO potential with every single other punch he threw, can’t imagine he didn’t have a stiff jab too.

 

Shavers seems a sharper hitter while Foreman rarely threw a straight punch but was so naturally damn strong it seemed like he could club anyone out ... both guys were monster hitters for sure ...

 

The majority of the men that fought both Shavers and Foreman said Shavers hit harder.
I can't argue with that.....

 

He knocked down Ratliff and Francis with a jab.
He also sent Mitch Green's mouthpiece flying with it.

 

Not that I recall off-hand. If he appeared to, it would’ve been between 1985-87, when he was tearing through the ranks & at least some guys were appearing to fold partly from fear. I don’t know that he ever threw it for hurting purposes, however.

 

Opponents did credit Earnie for having a good hard long sharp jab, but he didn't really have the physical template for supporting it with his heavy 50 pound club arms. One exception we do have on camera is Henry Clark I in Paris (Larry Merchant's television broadcast debut) where Shavers came in with a bruised right hand.

He used his jab to cut open and swell the durable Clark's right eye just as he was beginning to tire. This was by far Earnie's most skilled career boxing display, where he utilized movement to keep it in the center of the ring (just after Clark shockingly blew out Jeff Merritt in 30 seconds, long before it was known that Candy Slim was severely coked out), and kept the 6'3" Clark at range with his longer reach and straight punching.

While very clearly not his forte, this rarely seen broadcast (which has gone for years at a time without being available online) does tend to surprise people who view it for the first time. No, it's not Larry Holmes pounding Ocasio into the dirt, but he did damage and UD a pretty competent boxing veteran with it. (Actually, Shavers did far more damage to Henry Clark with his jab than Sonny Liston had. And in their rematch, he hurt Clark far more badly, far more quickly than Liston did.)

Just as Blue Lewis was the one time Ali's body punching alone clinched the scoring after ten rounds with Blue Lewis, Henry Clark I was the one time (at least on camera) that Earnie Shavers won a match with his jab alone, and against a pretty good stylist at that. (Still, again, Earnie was getting tired in the seventh round just when his jab inflicted the facial damage on Clark which may have preserved his win.)

 

The way Cus trained the jab was never meant to be a damaging single punch, every punch is to be thrown with maximum speed and power, but he never called out a single jab, it was always something like 7-7-7 or 7-5-6-2-1

 

I just checked, and Shavers-Clark I still has only 479 views after being on YouTube for five months this time around. I haven't watched it since it was previously on YouTube, but again, the few people I exchanged with who also watched it back then were surprised at Earnie's skill. In fact, Clark's left eye was a mess by round six, and there was a real question about whether or not Henry would get stopped because of it.

 

This is what I was looking for! Thank you. Going to go find the video. Tyson is always an interesting one to me. Partly because he was one of the rare few big punchers who seemed to have the same power with anything.

 

Where can i see Foreman and Liston knocking out all these guys with jabs?

 

Interesting read, thank you. Wasn’t Clark washed up by that time, though?

 

This was actually the end of the second longest undefeated streak of Henry's career. He had just turned 31 at this stage. No one had beaten him since Norton had swelled his eyes shut in November 1972. He'd decisioned Tiger Williams, ended Mac Foster as a plausible contender, dominated 13-1 Jody Ballard and produced that shocker in the Merritt rematch. He'd just drawn with white South African Jimmy Richards in Johannesburg, ending a ten fight win streak for Richards.

In his first bout after Shavers II, he decked Howard KO Smith in the opening round, then took Mercado the limit in his career finale over two years later. I think he probably called it a career then, not because he was in decline, but because it wasn't going to go any further after 49 bouts in 15 years. But sometimes with age comes an increased susceptibility to cuts, then Shavers really knocked him silly in their rematch.

Mercado showed his chin was still good, but to lose a decision over ten rounds to a slugger like Mercado with the skills and experience Henry had revealed a different type of erosion. He'd lost his last three distance bouts to guys noted as knockout artists.

Clark didn't stick around too long, nor did he retire prematurely. His was that rare case where he hung them up at just the right time. His career got good television exposure for a decade.

Did he underachieve? No, just limited. Had heavyweight size and ATG chin, but underpowered, not as mobile or elusive or fast as he needed to be, and he just wasn't world class level. (He and Mercado sort of represent that distinction.)

 

Probably yes. Foreman was infinitely the superior puncher however which is far more important.

 

Excellent read. Cheers.