Shavers: NOT the hardest punching heavyweight of all time

A lot of good points on this thread -- harder puncher vs. better puncher, etc.

One thing I'd note: there's a certain point beyond which how much harder someone hits than someone else doesn't really matter.

If Shavers nails someone on the chin with his right hand, as solid as he can throw it, against 90 percent of guys the fight is over or close to it. Same with Foreman.

One can debate whether it hurts more to get run over by a bus going 90 mph or a train going 80 mph, but what really is the point? Either way, you're done.

 

Good point, worth making.

 

Well, Henry Clark didn't, because he'd rather say someone who he beat punched the hardest. Fighters talk a lot of ****, they always have done. They often let their ego get the better of them.

This is fair. I think in Holmes' case, Shavers did hit him harder. In Tillis's case, i think I prefer his more contemporary version of events, not years after the event when his memory is fading.

I agree with this entirely. I think this was the case with Tillis and Tyson. He likely landed a lot more cleanly than Shavers (I'm not sure I've seen the Tillis-Earnie bout).

Again, this could be true, but it's another example of what I've been saying. Moore once named his most difficult opponenents and no mention of Ezzard Charles. So, a clear case of selective memory and/or sour grapes. I have many Moore interviews, I bet if I looked in them all, I'd find an example of where he named the hardest puncher as someone other than Durelle and it's safe to say, Archie was one of the more genuine and honest of the great fighters.

 

Shavers right hand was as hard punching as anything Liston or Foreman threw. What puts the Acorn a notch or two down from Sonny and George was that he was a more limited fighter,overall. His jaw,to name one factor. When it came to being hit on the button,the two world champs could take it as well as give it. Earnie could n't.

Muhammad Ali states that Shavers hit him harder than the other two did. That can be translated as Shavers hitting him more OFTEN than Liston or Foreman did. By the time September 1977 rolled around,Muhammad was 35 years old,and his reflexes and overall speed were a hell of a lot slower than his 1964/65 and 1974 versions were.

 

Liston isnt even on this list. Knocking out glass chin Floyd Patterson proved little. Shavers best knockout wins came against a washed up Norton that Foreman already killed and a "Young" Jimmy Young.

 

Scott Le Doux said Greg Page hit him harder than Foreman, Lyle, Norton, Weaver and Holmes, no BS

 

Tillis never said that.He said that Shavers hits hardest.

 

Shavers

 

I don't agree.I think Shavers had left and right hand harder than Foreman.He dropped Lyle with left hook and Lyle said that is the hardest punch he ever taken

 

True one punch power, yes Shavers. Men he fought attest to that. We`re not talking speed, finishing combinations pr ring savvy. Just sheer one punch bombing power. It has to be Shavers,he did more damage (one shot) than Foreman or Liston.

 

Have we got a complete list of common oponents who said that Shavers hit harde than Foreman?

I have got:

Ali
Norton
Young

 

Leroy Caldwell

 

These threads are interesting at first...and then become an exercise in futility...all these guys could punch...there's no scientific way to prove anything....let's just get on with our lives....

 

I think they say he hit harder than Foreman, cause there really is only one compliment to give the guy. Also Foreman was not liked by other fighters, Shavers never made any waves.

 

I can believe it. In the case of Super Greg, any fighter claiming he didn't hit them harder than anyone is obviously talking through his arse. :hey