Rocky Marciano vs Earnie Shavers

Actually he won 49 times but I agree with your analysis.

Shavers has a chin literally made out of glass. **** me. He got taken out by ****ing Jerry Quarry, of all people!

Now don't get me wrong, Jerry Quarry was for sure one of the most talented heavyweights of all time, but Rocky Marciano is a true ATG heavyweight fighter with a steel chin and the heart of a lion.

He also has one punch KO power, as demonstrated against Walcott. A short fight, Shavers would be KTFO very, very early.

 

Much is made of the Quarry fight which was strategic suicide by Shavers who came out over confident and bombing caution to the wind and got caught by some lightning fast combinations by Quarry .. Shavers learned from that fight and improved vastly ...

Against Mariano it is whoever lands first, plain and simple ... Rocky would not have the edge in strength and power he had over all his opponents. He would have the better chin but he would not take too many flush shots if hit .. Shavers was a much faster starter, had reach, speed and a pretty good jab to work off of ... a hell of a two round fight .. either way it's not going any further ...

a who knows .. I lean to Rocky, keeping low, dodging bombs and then catching Earne with a crackling right but Rocky better be warmed up and start very fast ...

 

Rocky had 11 first round knockouts, including the rematch with Walcott (a doubly impressive flooring considering how Jersey Joe started their previous bout). In a situation like this, he'd be perfectly capable of making war at the opening bell. Jimmy Bivins has said the power of Louis impressed him, and the Bomber had to be stronger for Rocky, two months later and ten pounds heavier. Joe's power looked all right in dropping Savold for the count four months before Marciano, it's just that he was no longer punching in combination.

Hatchetman Sheppard and Ted Lowry said Moore was the hardest puncher they ever fought, both hands, and we've seen what Archie did to big Embrell Davidson on youtube with a single first round right. Rocky quickly got up from what may have been the single hardest right hand Moore ever delivered.

Marciano also got up from the same Walcott hook which dropped Charles for the count, and withstood numerous further bombs through the following 11 rounds.

Shavers was a harder puncher than any of them, but he didn't have the accurate delivery system necessary to make consistent optimal use of that power. Rocky had vastly underrated defensive skills, courtesy of Goldman's tutelage, great vision, and the conditioning to withstand substantial force.

It typically took a lot to drop Earnie. Jerry Quarry needed 59 punches to finally put him down. He stood up to five rounds of bombs from Lyle before succumbing. He stayed upright for 23 rounds against the most potent version of Holmes. He did anomalously get up in the first round to knock out Jeff Sims for the definitive comeback win of his career. It took the huge and deadly Mercado seven rounds to land him. (A year earlier, Bernardo had crushed the durable Berbick in one, improving on an amateur decision win over Trevor.) Bob Stallings produced the only other meaningful touch down of Earnie's career, decking him in round nine of a monumental upset. Including the embryonic loss to Stander, and his swan song at 50 against Yates, Shavers sustained a grand total of seven knockdowns in 90 fights over a span of 26 years, not bad for his brand of wide open slugging.

However, if Shavers got hurt against Marciano, Rocky wouldn't let him off the hook. It was possible to get up to rally against Marciano, as LaStarza and Buonvino proved in their first bouts against him, but they were both distance oriented stylists. Not only did JQ blow Earnie out, but Ellis had him going in a corner when a timely clinch and referee's break gave him the opening he needed.

Early or late, I'm confident Marciano takes it, slipping inside those Shavers bombs, and swarming him into submission. When Earnie got stunned or fatigued, he tended to go into a defensive shell, while Rocky fought back harder.

 

Duodendum, mentioning Shavers' seven knockdowns in 90 fights is helpful...it really puts his "no chin" reputation in perspectve. Earnier didn't go down all that easily. But like Frank Bruno, he tended to become paralyzed when hurt, going into a shell.

Honestly, Earnie is one of my favorites, and I'd love to see him blow out Marciano. I believe he could, but it's one of those deals where you have to vote with probability more than possibility. Marciano's will to win was incredible and made up for many of his shortcomings, so I'd have to pick him here.

 

And Jimmy Ellis

 

I was referring to his kos and believe he would have found a way to make Ernie number 44, anyway judges would have been superfluous.

 

The difference in this fight is durability and stamina. Rocky can give and take for 15 rounds, Shavers can't.

 

Earnie Shavers COULD KO any heavyweight ever, with reasonable chances of success in such an endeavor. This statement can be made with more assurance regarding Mr. Shavers than it could regarding any other heavy who ever lived.

 

If testimonials from those Shavers fought are correct then you are right, but 15 round wars were the Rocks speciality and I can''t go past him in this.

 

Could ko? I not sure on that. Just because Ali said he hit harder than Foreman, doesnt mean if I gave Shavers 100 more tries to ko Ali, I dont think Shavers can.

I not sure he take Marciano out either. But Ali, I give Shavers about 0 percent for the ko.

 

As you and I previously discussed in the Shavers versus Morrison thread you created back in March. You already well know the facts of his career as they pertain to this.

Now this is what's most troubling about him. When Marciano got hit, it tended to wake him up and arouse him. Frazier responded the same way when he got clocked early by the likes of Ramos and Stander. Earnie was more prone to freeze a bit and go into a shell, like Norton was sometimes seen to do. (Ken suffered 13 knockdowns in 50 fights, for comparison to the Acorn.) He reverted to survival mode rather quickly for a slugger of his ilk.

Shavers is well known as one of my favorites also, but when applying the axiom that, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going," Rocky, not Earnie, is much more the animal here.

 

I'll take Rocky Marciano all day in this matchup.

No question.

 

Green and fast versus aging and slowed....... I like Patty of '56....:bbb:deal

MR.BILL:hat