Poor Henry Clark had to spar Shavers

I believe Clark and Shavers actually fought twice in the ring as well as sparred.

 

True. Earnies 2 round stoppage of a respectably durable Clark in their rematch is one of Shavers’ career highlights - a very good performance imo. The essential Shavers.

 

I remember some story about Larry Holmes and Ken Norton talking (maybe on the phone) and Norton wanting a rematch.

Larry knew Don King’s plan for his next card and told Kenny he was fighting Earnie in an eliminator.

Norton said something like “#&@* you” and hung up, haha.

 

https://nyfights.com/worldwide/the-many-faces-of-henry-clark/

 

This was before Shavers-Norton.

Ken wanted another shot at Larry. King had worked out an eliminator with the WBC for Norton-Shavers, with the winner to fight Larry.

 

Henry sparred with Foreman too, and fought Liston. According to him, Eddie Machen hit him harder than all of them.

 

Sylvester Stallone got a taste of that for one day and called it quits after his ribs got broke real fighters are a different breed.

 

I used to spar glass city cobra

 

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Ref instructions to Norton before opening bell of Shavers fight:

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I wish I still had it - I think it was the Ring mag. that did a feature on Shavers and his sparring partners.

It was accompanied by several photos of Earnie’s partners post sparring.

My god, their faces were a hot, misshapen mess.

One guy’s eyes appeared as if they were still half rolled up - suggestive of him being still half out.

Another pic, maybe the same guy, showed him with a badly bloodied nose and a cotton bud shoved up each nostril to stem and stop the flow of claret. Applying the term FUBAR would’ve been more than apt.

Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact content of the article - but I’m sure it included his partners describing the experience of sparring with Earnie.

No way were they getting paid enough to cop that, and that’s if anyone could even put a price on taking such punishment on a daily basis.

Money isn’t much good to you when your brain is scrambled.

All the same, I hold out hope that some of Earnie’s sparring sessions might be out there. But then again, we’ve barely got any footage of him hitting the heavy bag.

If anyone remembers the article in question , please corroborate me so that I know I’m not going mad and creating a false memory. Lol.