Was Ali really still a great fighter when he beat Earnie Shavers?

If anyone gives Shavers the 15th round, they are either blind, trolling, or Ali must have smashed their mom and dipped out.

 

You're the clown.
Watch the fight again with the sound of, so you won't be influenced by those clueless commentators, then score it yourself.

 

When Holmes dropped, he DROPPED!

 

Sorry pal.
I must have been having one of my off days and never spotted it!

 

He was but a mere shell of what he was in his prime but still good enough. The Ali from that fight still probably beats every contender at that time apart from Holmes.

 

If you can beat nearly ever contender available aside from one, you're a great fighter. Yes the late 70's was relatively weak, but by your own logic Ali was a shell of himself and still dominant.

 

I watched the fight countless times, and Shavers was basically out on his feet. You're even dumber than I gave you credit for. I've not seen one person, even one of Ali's most extreme detractors (and their are plenty of them here) who didn't score the round emphatically for Ali.

I'd sooner agree with the round being a 10-8 for Ali than a draw.

 

All good champ.

 

Norton and Young in rematches would have been awfully tough as Ali was sliding pretty hard. Holmes would have beat him at this point. If Foreman hadn't seen god 6 months earlier he too would have been very very painful.

 

Gotta keep that Ali hate goin' man!

 

You're the one who's blind.
Watch the fight again, that round was even at best for Ali. It starts at 1:00:30

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1:00:43, 1:00:54 - right hands from Shavers to Ali's jaw.
1:01:03 - 1:01:05 - left and right shots by Shavers that grazed Ali's face, followed by a few body shots
1:01:10 - 1:01:12 - Shavers slips Ali's jab and then counters with a right to Ali's face
1:01:27 - 1:01:29 - Ali hits Shavers with a right, Shavers counters with a right of his own
1:01:33 - right and left by Shavers
1:02 - Ali gets going a bit, but Shavers still has enough in the tank to counter
Then Shavers mostly swings at air and misses Ali with power shots for 15 seconds
1:02:46 - Ali gets his hands going a bit, Shavers still has stamina and pushes him in a corner
1:03:00 - Ali lets his hands loose and lands some clean shots, while Shavers tries to counter and misses
It's a good 20 seconds for Ali, and Shavers is staggered, but in no way shape or form are those 20 seconds at the end enough for Ali to win this round.

Shavers was an idiot for not following up here. He landed a great shot, then just stood there like an idiot, allowing Ali time to recover.
But since we're at it, although it was a good shot, it's nowhere near as hard as the one he landed on Holmes. That was an overhand right where he put all his bodyweight behind it.

 

Shavers didn't hit him harder than Holmes. It was an overhand right with all his bodyweight vs Holmes, it was just a right hook vs Ali.
If I had to estimate, I'd say the punch he hit Holmes with was at least 30% harder.

 

Seconds are crucial in boxing but Shavers delay in following up might be a bit exaggerated. Sure, Ali was hurt but the man had amazing recuperative powers - Shavers still cracked Ali with power punches shortly thereafter and ultimately Earnie lived to fight out the full 15 rounds.

Shavers later said he thought Ali was foxing - which I take to mean feigning hurt - but Ali was obviously hurt initially - if anything, one might’ve suspected that Ali was faking that he was okay when he waved Earnie in. IMO, Ali had in fact recovered for the most part by that stage.

Similar to that “what if” - I always think of Ali vs Frazier, round 2, when Ali hurt Joe but the round was cut short. I think Joe proved over all the other rounds they fought that he likely wouldn’t have gone down if the round was completed fully - but it’s impossible to say for sure.

Also, when fighters are caught with a big shot by surprise, they will steel up and be better prepared for the follow up than they were for the punch that hurt them in the first instance.

 

So maybe God actually intervened on Ali’s behalf, not George’s?

The Supreme Being’s “message” really being that Foreman only need retire and stay out of the picture until Ali himself retired.

The Big Chief does work in mysterious ways they say.

Damn, talk about a major misread on Foreman’s part…his taking 10 years out was absolute overkill. Ali got to you again Big Fella!

And, when he felt hotter than hell, that’s the time Foreman finds God. Makes sense, I think. Sorry, just talking some sh*t.