saw that shavers was way past it .the thing to me that was funny was that norton and cooney were ringside commentators and norton told cooney to watch his mouth(thats funny) but what would have happened if cooney fought shavers that night like he was supposed to?
I can see both ways, both hard punchers(shavers the hardest) and both with weak chin.i would put my money on shavers prime vs prime by ko in 3 rounds. but in 1980 he was 35, i do not know
I would have picked Cooney to beat that version of Shavers and wouldn't be surprised to see him win against a prime one as well. Of course, Earnie could have ended it with a few big rights early, but Gerry was just as dangerous out of the gate and a more well rounded fighter at that.
shavers cobb and cooney were very much overrated,shavers was supposed to have devasting power,who did he ever use it against,cobb was a punching bag who took 10 shots to the face before landing one by throwing wild haymakers and cooney was a left hand fighter always moving to his left you can see his left hook coming from a mile away:think
80's Shavers would have probably lost, he was old and slowed down a lot, not that he was ever truly fast but by then he could hardly put a combination together which is something he was known for doing in his prime. He could potentially pull out a Shavers-Sims comeback, but only if he survives the inevitable early round battering. I would favour a prime Shavers to catch the defensively open Cooney with right hand bombs that Cooney wouldn't be able to take. Still a near even fight though.
Who did he ever use it against? Do you mean other than these guys?: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=981lkwNDcVk[/ame]
I have the fight on tape...... Shavers was age 35 for sure, but also in very good shape... He fought often and was buffed and toned in August 1980..... Team Shavers always used the excuse that they didn't have the proper time to train cuz they took many fights late in Earnie's career on short notice, etc... But if you look at the tape, Shavers was no slob in that ring, he simply owned lousy stamina... Lousy stamina hindered Shavers for his entire career.... Still, aside from all that ****, Texas Cobb was peaked and in great shape too, and he just had more in the tank in 1980 than Ol' Shavers had.... Cobb TKO 8 Shavers.. MR.BILL
hmmm, did you not witness his destruction of Ken Norten? He floored a prime Larry Holmes with one of the sweetest punches ever. If Holmes wasn't a freak of nature he would have been out cold. I have seen Shavers do things with punches that I have never witnessed any other boxer do.
I'd argue Ali is only behind Chuvalo for best chin ever. It's what made him great when he was past it. Ali's legend declines severely if he couldn't take the best punch in heavyweight history. Shavers was past it against Cobb.
