Some goodies among these - ·Tex Cobb: "Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I'd shoot him." ·Larry Holmes: "Earnie hit me harder than any other fighter, including Mike Tyson. He hit me and I was face down on the canvas hearing saxophonist Jimmy Tillis." ·Tex Cobb: "Earnie could punch you in the neck with his right hand and break your ankle." ·Muhammad Ali: "Earnie hit me so hard, he shook my kinfolk back in Africa" ·Ron Lyle: "Hey man, that's the hardest I've ever been hit in my life. And George Foreman could punch, but none of them could hit like Earnie Shavers did. When he hit you, the lights went out. I can laugh about it now, but at the time,it wasn't funny." ·Ron Lyle: "Hardest he's ever been hit: Earnie Shavers. The ground came up and met me. That's all I remember." ·James Tillis: "Shavers hit so hard he turned horse p*ss into gasoline! He hit me so hard he brought back tomorrow. When he hit me I was seeing pink rats and cats and animals smoking cigarettes. I was in the land of make-believe." ·James Tillis This content is protected : "The baddest motherf*cker I fought was Earnie Shavers. That motherf*cker can make July into June and made me jump over the motherf*ckin' moon. That motherf*cker hit so hard, he'll bring back tomorow. He hit me so hard, I thought I was on the corner smoking cigarette and eating a spam sandwich. That's how hard that motherf*cker hit."
I remember Ken Norton echoing essentially the same sentiment in a KO Magazine interview many years back. They asked him of the big three he fought (Foreman, Shavers and Cooney) which hit hardest and he said Shavers......something to the effect of when Shavers hit him, he STAYED down.
That motherf*cker can make July into June and made me jump over the motherf*ckin' moon. I was face down on the canvas hearing saxophonist Jimmy Tillis. Some of these are brilliant.
What people forget is that Sharvers dropped Lyle with a monster left hook .... while Earnie was known for the right and was right hand crazy he had a terrific left hook as well ..
I always liked: JET Magazine, 1978 - "On a given night, Shavers can knockout any heavyweight or water buffalo"
Bit odd though, Holmes was able to get up after a Shavers right hand (it was a monstrous punch mind you), but he was OUT after Tyson put him down. Just saying. Though it is perfectly feasible that Shavers had one of the best right hands in the game.
Holmes had also been down a couple times before being put away. In no way was that done via one shot.
I remember reading somewhere about Shavers' power and a lot of his opponents used the word 'numb.' If he hit them on the arm, the shoulder, the side, whatever -- the area just turned numb for a period of time and they couldn't feel it at all.
I remember thinking that Renaldo Snipes seemed to have hit Larry harder. When Larry staggered up he walked face first into the corner padding. Tyson hit Larry very sharp and fast as opposed to Earnies heavy bomb.
