Is Earnie Shavers an all time great Heavyweight ?

No he isn't an all time great.

 

Basic in comparison to whom exactly? And his punch was legendary.

He started boxing at 22 and turned pro at about 25. He did rather well.
He defeated a few good contenders and also beat former champs JImmy Ellis and Ken Norton. That´s pretty good for someone "basic".

 

We aren't talking about when he started, we are talking about the fact that he was unskilled, and he was. Nor did anyone question his punch--I openly acknowledged it twice. Take a look at his record and see how many times he failed. Why not learn to read for comprehension? You are pretty much in your own world.

 

How to win an argument: insult the other person.
Brilliant.

Shavers clearly could box and had actual skills. Not good enough to compete at the top, but to give anyone a good fight. He wasn´t just blindly throwing his powerful hands like some scrub.

 

Better than several that held a strap, let's agree on that.

 

I do think the Jerry Quarry knockout loss in round 1, was the thorn in Earnie's potential legacy. The knockout loss to Ron Lyle, did not help matters at all. The knockout win over Ken Norton was when Ken was way past his prime. He did go into the 15th round against post prime Muhammad Ali, on Sept 29 1977,in Madison Square Garden. After rocking Ali during the fight, Earnie almost collapsed to the canvas in round 15. Legendary power, but that's all, but a very good man.

 

not even close. A great puncher with little boxing skill or IQ

 

Ruiz would beat the **** outta Shavers. Are you kidding.

 

He was most certainly an all time great puncher.

 

I think a swarmer would destroy Andy Ruiz. I know we've never seen Ruiz fight a swarmer but I'm not sure Ruiz could handle the pressure

 

I think Ruiz with his speed pulls a Quarry on Shavers.

 

There is a good reason he is being discussed on a regular basis half a century after his prime.

Boxing fans in the 2060s will be very selective on who they bring back

 

He's an ATG puncher.
McCall is an ATG chin.
Khan is an ATG handspeed demon.
McGirt is an ATG boxing brain.

None of these are great fighters.

 

Shavers was a quintessential slugger, not a a swarmer.
Though both tend to be much more aggressive than boxers, swarmers are high volume punching in-fighters.
Sluggers prefer to have enough distance to set up massive game changing shots.

Shavers was not an all time great.
His skills were limited-at the top levels.
But his skills were decent by the standards of a regular HW.
His POWER however, was among the best ever.
And likely the best ever, at least among everyone short of SHW size.

Overall he was good enough to be a world-class, top 10 fighter for some years in a strong era.
Meaning for years not many in the world have any decent chance of beating him.
He would be at least as good, likelt better, in a street fight.

 

I'm just saying Ruiz ain't fought no one like Shavers. Shavers never fought a Ruiz either so it will be interesting