Overrated Hitters In Boxing History?

Was Bugner not stopped for a cut?

 

Sam Peter and Deontay Wilder.

Never knocked out anyone worth damn between them.

 

He was but Bugner was hurt then heavily dropped in round 1 and Shavers started getting some big punches thru just prior to the stoppage. It was punches that tore him open. He dropped him with a big right uppercut while cuffing his head with he left.

 

To be fair though, a few of those testimonials were changed from earlier testimonials - to reference two - Caldwell originally nominated Foreman as the hardest puncher and Tillis had previously nominated Tyson as the hardest puncher.

If Tyson hit like a homo then I must remember to never pick fights against any homos.

Tillis was clearly trying to throw unrealistic shade on Tyson.

Tillis and Tyson weren’t too friendly - nor were Mike and Larry - but, everyone loved Earnie, not just the fighter but the man in equal measure also.

When Tillis first claimed that Shavers hit him the hardest, it was straight after his fight against Earnie - and he was also mindful to piggyback on and use Ali’s own claim of Shavers being the hardest puncher.

Shavers finishing abilities (or lack thereof) weren’t always the explanation for him being unable to finish certain opponents - per fight reports and Stander/Shavers themselves, Earnie hit Ron with everything and the kitchen sink - lack of connection or follow up weren’t the issues.

Same story vs Cobb and a well jaded Ali. Earnie caught Muhammad with far more lethal head shots than Foreman did in Zaire.

Some might reply - well those were well chinned guys - yes, that’s fair but they still took Earnie’s best without any equivocations or concessions.

See Stander vs Merritt. Candy Slim was the epitome of raw power, little or no technique.

He absolutely destroyed Stander -it was a virtual mugging. The rarefied power in Merritt’s punch was painfully obvious as was the lack of technique.

Based on the vision, one might’ve expected Stander to nominate Merritt as the hardest puncher he faced - Jeff being able to achieve what no other opponent of Stander could, before or since.

I think Shavers speed, delivery technique and reach are underrated features in terms of the degree of their contribution to the effect of Shavers’ punches.

For one example, Earnie executed perfectly from go to whoa against Norton - who was 5 years older than the version that fought Foreman - and against Foreman, it basically took Foreman just one punch - a long right hand landed on a retreating Norton to start Ken on his way.

Funny that Norton, in trying to differentiate between the power of Foreman and Shavers, said that he got up against Foreman but ultimately couldn’t get back up against Shavers.

Norton wasn’t counted out against either Foreman or Shavers - he actually clawed his way back to his feet before the expiration of 10 seconds in both fights - he simply wasn’t viable to continue so the refs in both fights called the fights off.

This obviously isn’t to to say Shavers couldn’t punch extremely hard, of course he could, - but I personally don’t think he necessarily had the lead (as alleged) on the other top punchers of the day, if any.

If anything, I would agree that Shavers probably hit the hardest in terms of his consistent delivery of power shots -

Even Shavers himself said that there would be fighters who could probably equal his power with their best shots - but they wouldn’t hit that hard as often as Shavers himself did - and Earnie literally did put everything into his punches while others didn’t - thus Shavers gassing badly in some of his fights.

I love The Acorn just as much as the next guy and that universal love is exactly why I’ve just signed up for the boxing witness protection program.


EDIT: Holy ****, I didn’t mean to type out so much.

 

I hate to say this because he is my favorite but Wilfredo Gomez.

He had a tremendous ko percentage but mostly it was accumulation with the rare one punch ko (Kobayashi, Cervantes) thrown in.

 

Regarding your comment about Shavers not hitting that hard--I would advise you to watch this clip and hear what Larry Holmes himself had to say about it!

This content is protected

 

Cheers, He!

 

Joe Louis hit about as hard as, maybe a little less than, David Lemieux.

 

Exactly, what separated Shavers from the champs was his finishing ability and average boxing skill not his power

 

I couldn't see the power they talked about I thought Wladamir hit harder just from the crisp thud of his right hand and how it jarred opponents

 

I loved MMH but he was not a Julian Jackson,John Mugabi, Nigel Benn type puncher but he was one of the hardest strongest with heavy hands he usually beat the fight out of opponents

 

Thank you for being a class act as well.

 

Vitali Klitschko
Joe Frazier
Anthony Joshua
George Foreman
Rocky Marciano
Deontay Wilder
Canelo
GGG
Sam Langford

 

https://www.heavyweightblog.com/2318/earnie-shavers-power-puncher-or-overrated-featherfist

 

I love the clips of Holmes and Tyson together. They're pretty friendly and funny. I saw one clip where Holmes is interviewing Tyson at some boxing expo and says "Mike, why'd you have to whoop me like that?" Tyson responds "Why'd you have to beat on Ali like that?" Holmes says "I didn't have to", Tyson responds "I didn't have to either", and then they both start cracking up.