Who hits harder: Earnie Shavers or Mike Tyson?

With Mike Tyson the opponent was probably not going to get hit by just one punch, another hard punch was following and probably more. MT hit hard from both sides (left and right), the punches were short, and quick. There was no time to recover. Hard to say who hit harder with one loaded up punch, but MT was more precise and quicker with his punches and they were probably coming in combination.

 

The pros from the "Bible of boxing" The Ring Magazine. "The 100 Greatest Punchers of all Time" published June 2022

 

Thankfully I was never hit by either so I really cannot say. BUT I'd think it would be Earnie Shavers because my old buddy Randall Tex Cobb said "Earnie was the only man that hit me hard enough to make me feel like quitting, every punch shook me from head to toe." Have you heard the story of Tex & Earnies's fight ??
Tex came back to the corner after the first round. His corner man George said " Its Ok Tex Earnie aint hurting ya" Tex replied " Well George, then you better keep an eye on that godamn ref cause somebody is "
Typical Tex

 

Tex Cobb had a great since of humor. But as I wrote earlier , quite a few of Tysons opponents said they'd been hit harder by other opponents.
But very few of Shavers opponents said they'd been hit harder.
If theirs really no way to prove one way or the other who hit the hardest between the two.
One must go with the opnions of the men who actually fought them and tasted their power.
So by their descriptions ,
Tyson’s power was more BMW M5.
Shavers power was more Mack truck.

 

Cobb definitely looked distressed by a number of the punches that Earnie laid on him...and that was an older Earnie.

A significant feature to that fight also was the very REAL traction issues both men were having with the canvas.

Earnie said it prevented him from achieving due/max. leverage on his punches - and when you watch the fight I think that explanation holds up - and Earnie would’ve suffered most for it in terms of compromised punching power.

Also the slippery deck wouldn’t have done either man any favours in terms depleting their gas tanks that much more quickly trying to hold their feet.

 

It’s a shame we don’t have more vision of Earnie hitting the heavy bag.

The footage you might want most, above many others (including sparring footage), is ironically scarce. Hopefully, more film on Earnie might turn up at some point in time.

Here’s some scant footage (see below) at Deer Lake - Earnie actually looks quite fast with his hands and very nimble on his feet. His executions look fine also.

The footage seems a bit stilted but I don’t think the film speed has been tampered with and I have seen a smoother version previously.

Below that clip is more footage of Earnie at Ali’s training gym HQs at Deer Lake.

Perhaps not quite the level of Norton but apparently Shavers was a highly respectable all round athlete in High School also.

Earnie was also confirmed (at least by Jerry Quarry when commentating one of Earnie’s fights) to have worked with weights during his career - with Quarry qualifying that weight training was still a no no among most trainers of the era.

The cover doesn’t always describe the book but in terms of shoulders, back muscles etc, Earnie also very much looked the part of a big puncher.

Very long reach also - about 79”-80” to aid and abet full connection of the overhand right.

Heavy Bag: -

This content is protected

Limbering up with squats, some shadow boxing and just a little bit of sparring footage: -

This content is protected

 

Shavers had more raw power, but less speed, worse timing, and worse technique. Tyson was more dangerous overall because he had all those things and was also a superb finisher (finishing is a completely different attribute to raw power).

If Shavers raw power was a 10, Tyson would be an 8 at worst. However, to reiterate, combining Tyson's hand speed, combinations, and being able to hit the opponent from odd angles where they don't see it coming, Tyson could theoretically KO or hurt almost anyone so it didn't really matter. Another note about the difference between Shavers and Tyson: Shavers had longer arms and was great at launching big looping shots from away or straight bombs down the middle. Tyson with his shorter arms probably could deliver razor sharp and jolting power with mere inches to work with whilst throwing hooks and uppers better than Shavers.

In regards to who boxers said hurt them, if you actually get into a fight you'd know this isn't very shocking. The hardest I've ever been hit was by a guy who neither KOd me, nor did he knock me down. He was a very stocky guy built similar to Tua with big legs, shoulders, etc. He had basically zero technique or fundamentals to speak of, but even when you blocked his punches generated a crazy amount of force. That is why someone's raw power can leave an impression on you even if they never managed to land flush on your jaw, you still FEEL the numbing power on your arms, shoulder, hips, etc and it can ache for days depending on just how big of a puncher they are.

I imagine the same applies to Shavers. Yes there are some guys who may have been praising him to make themselves look better after they won, but even people who lost to other devastating punchers would name Shavers. Ali is the best evidence because the guy was never KOd and faced a crazy number of big hitters, whooping all of them, and chose Shavers so he's the least biased.

 

In terms of pure power and not considering technique and ability, Shavers takes the cake. For me he’s the single biggest puncher in the sport’s history.

 

Wilder has an argument too just based on the eye test and sheer power he displays, but he has god awful boxing ability, sloppy technique, inconsistent timing, and can't win rounds to save his life. His right hand is top 5 for sure in terms of danger and force.

 

Agreed.

Wilder is seriously horrible to watch - many of his wild punches stray to illegal areas of the head also (worst case, top or back of the head), which serves to magnify the effect of his already formidable punching power.

Jeff Meritt could never have been accused of having the speed, technique and accuracy to aid and abet his god given power.

His punching display in the clip below is as RAW as it gets (lol) but nonetheless impressive in so far as the apparent power on show and that is the cinder block of Ron Stander that he is caving in.

Earnie couldn’t put Stander down but, by all accounts, Shavers did hit Stander with everything, including the kitchen sink before gassing.

Of course Candy Slim also famously busted Shavers’ jaw during sparring.

This content is protected

 

Couple things:

1) Yes ol Jeff has thudding power and got good leverage in his shots. You can see him using his hips, abs, and shoulders as he propels those big uppercuts like a bowler. He was also confident and committed to the punches--2 ingredients some guys miss who might otherwise be better strikers if they had them.

2) Jeff's power is legit. I didn't even know he fought Terrel and scored a 1st round stoppage (Terrel was past his prime and had a long rugged career by this point, but it's still impressive given his durability and defensive skills). Jeff had a respectable 77% KO rate.

3) That being said, as impressive as it is thrashing Stander...Stander looks absolutely horrible in this fight. He has no clue how to actually defend himself or cover up when hurt, literally stumbling around aimlessly like a guy who walked into a branch. It didn't help that the ref looked like he wasn't even paid to be there and was just out for a stroll before he finally stepped in. Usually when a guy is badly hurt this way, the ref will step in closer so that they can jump in to stop it if a guy is taking too much punishment. This isn't a slight against Jeff, as a pro he did exactly what he was supposed to do and keep hitting until he hears a bell, but this stoppage was pure chaos with sloppiness from both boxers and the ref.

4) In regards to Shavers vs Stander, apparently Shavers broke his right hand punching Stander in the forehead. This is documented in his book "Welcome to the big time". Considering Shavers was a slugger who relied heavily on his power to win, losing a hand and needing to jab against a durable guy like Stander is an impossible task. I'm not sure exactly how or when it happened. If Shavers just had bad timing that's on him, but if Stander was being Stander and awkwardly blocked a punch with his face leading to the hand injury, you can chalk it up to the dangers of fighting a sloppy journeyman who doesn't follow the "rules" and etiquettes of how to fight properly and position yourself.

5) Fun fact: Stander fought 3 guys named Jeff and lost to all 3. I wonder if that's a record.

 

But that’s the thing - Stander didn’t look good in any of his fights, - a face first guy, the Merritt fight being no exception.

As compared to Shavers, Merritt’s executions were far more raw. In fact, I rate Shavers’ delivery system (as a puncher) much higher than most.

When fresh, Earnie often knew how to launch and get the big shots home - perhaps the Norton fight being the best example of same.

Perhaps the broken right hand hampered Earnie or perhaps he simply broke it after hitting Stander in the head so many times without even yielding a KD.

Bob Fitz obliterated his hands beating on and smashing Jeffries’ bowling ball head - ultimately, to no avail.

Main point is that the Stander fight removes the common contention that Earnie simply didn’t always have the ability to land and keep landing (follow up) on his opponent.

Even later, when Stander was older and likely in worse condition, Ken Norton punched the bejesus out of Stander (and was allowed to do so for a good while) but the cinder block still, somehow, remained on his feet.

Lol, imagine losing to 3 different namesakes. It’s either time to up your game OR at least change to a highly unique name, unlikely to be matched - like, say, Marmaduke?

 

Earnie Shavers hit harder but he ran out of gas, Mike Tyson was a sharper hitter, had a killer instinct, better defense, and had a better chin and stamina. Shavers was kayoed by jerry Quarry in round 1 on Dec 14 1973.

 

Under that same criteria how would you rate Wilder to Shavers?

 

It’s hard to say but I think Shavers proved his power against guys with better chins and overall ability. They both are monstrous power punchers with their own unique punching style. For Wilder has proved himself to be among the biggest punchers in heavyweight history, but I don’t think he beat enough world level guys or fighters with great chins to be considered the hardest puncher.