Earnie Shaver's(earlist recorded fight on film)

[Brutu]

Anyone know if any of his really early fights were recorded on film or video?
The oldest one I know of was the June.18.1973 fight with Jimmy Ellis
in NYC.
(Ellis ko'd in round one).

[Woller]

I have not heard of earlier recorded fights. The last was of course his k.o. loss to Brian Yates. Never a dull moment when thunderpunching Ernie was in the ring.

Søren

[Brutu]

I just re-read my copy of Earnie Shavers autobiography
WELCOME TO THE BIG TIME.
He says in it that he fought on the undercard of
Muhammad Ali vrs Oscar Bonavena
December.7.1970 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Shavers opponent was Bunky Akins(a sparring partner of Ali's) who lasted less then a round with Shavers.
From what I understand Ali vrs Bonavena was closed ciruit,anyone know what fights were broadcast on it?
I wonder if even if the Shavers vrs Akins fight was not broadcast,if they filmed it anyway to get checked for the main event.

[Brutu]

Also in his book,Shavers mentions that he fought in a preliminary match on the undercard of the
Bob Foster vrs Ray Anderson title fight in Tampa Florida which was aired on the American Telesports Network April.24.1971.
Shavers fought Willie Johnson(knocking out Johnson in four rounds)
But no mention if the Shavers bout was broadcast.

[bennie]

I was chatting to Earnie a few years ago at a Sports Bar in the UK, as they screened his win over Norton. "Was that your biggest win?" I asked.
"Ellis," he replied (his first big win, of course).
He also told me that Larry Holmes rings him every week for a chat. His left eye is seriously discoloured, courtesy of a Holmes thumb.
Earnie's finances were seriously harmed when a judge awarded his first wife a million bucks in a divorce settlement. "The judge actually said that in the court," said Earnie, "a million dollars."
Incidentally, Earnie is the only heavyweight Don King ever liked.

[joe kurtz]

Anyone know if any of his really early fights were recorded on film or video?
The oldest one I know of was the June.18.1973 fight with Jimmy Ellis
in NYC.
(Ellis ko'd in round one).

ARRRGH!

Back in the early '90s during Earnie's first visit to Canastota's annual Hall of Fame weekend, there was a gentleman at the trade show/boxing collector's convention there that had a professionally produced VHS tape of all of Shavers fights that were available on video that he was selling for $20 & ( like an idiot ) I didn't buy it. Of course now I wish I had. :(

[Brutu]

Earnie Shavers fight with Ted Gullick for the
Heavyweight Championship of Ohio at the Music Hall in
Warren Ohio February.1.1972
Reportly recieved a great deal of media coverage bringing in a lot of reporters and people in from Cleveland and Akron and other larger cities in the Rust Belt(Northern Ohio)Shavers KO'd Gullick in round 6,but I dont know if the bout was recorded.

[Brutu]

Anyone seen that movie HONEYMOON IN VEGAS(1992)
Earnie Shavers has a small part in it as himself.
The movie starred Nicholas Cage and featured a whole bunch of Elvis impersenators.

[Brutu]

The Shavers vrs Ellis fight, June.18. 1973 was the first live cable broadcast coast to coast(U.S.A) telecast for live television from Madison Square Garden(NYC).
Originally it was supposed to be Jerry Quarry vrs Earnie Shavers at MSG,but Jerry Quarry came down with the flu during training,so Jimmy Ellis replaced him.

[Brutu]

Actually the original fight was supposed to be between Oscar Bonavena and Jerry Quarry,but Bonavena got hurt during training,so they replaced Bonavena with Earnie Shavers,then Quarry got the flu,so then the fight eventually Shavers vrs Ellis.

[Brutu]

The Shavers vrs Ellis fight, June.18. 1973 was the first live cable broadcast coast to coast(U.S.A) telecast for live television from Madison Square Garden(NYC).
Originally it was supposed to be Jerry Quarry vrs Earnie Shavers at MSG,but Jerry Quarry came down with the flu during training,so Jimmy Ellis replaced him.

check out this link to a cool photo from Shavers-Ellis.
(also scroll down a page to read article about the late Mac Foster's comeback in 1973)

http://books.google.com/books?id=NkMDAA ... pg=PA51&dq

[The Great John L]

Earnie Shavers fight with Ted Gullick for the
Heavyweight Championship of Ohio at the Music Hall in
Warren Ohio February.1.1972
Reportly recieved a great deal of media coverage bringing in a lot of reporters and people in from Cleveland and Akron and other larger cities in the Rust Belt(Northern Ohio)Shavers KO'd Gullick in round 6,but I dont know if the bout was recorded.

There were a number of his local fights that were filmed at the time because I remember seeing highlights of a few of them on the news. He did get pretty good local press coverage prior to the Ellis fight, but blossomed into a local sensation with that uppercut. Unfortunately, the Quarry fight let quite a bit of steam out of his local media coverage for a while.

I'm sure there are tapes of some of his fights at some local college library, but finding anyone who even knows where to look requires way more time and patience than I have.

[Brutu]

Maybe you could put in a request on craigslist across Northern Ohio,asking for any old 8mm,16 mm or video-tape
of fights that took place in the region.
Im sure boxing fans must have filmed fights as a souvenir when they attended them.
Perhaps the film/tape is in a shoebox still in a closet in Cleveland or Warren Ohio?
All it takes is a house cleaning and its gone forever.

[orbtastic]

Anyone know if any of his really early fights were recorded on film or video?
The oldest one I know of was the June.18.1973 fight with Jimmy Ellis
in NYC.
(Ellis ko'd in round one).

ARRRGH!

Back in the early '90s during Earnie's first visit to Canastota's annual Hall of Fame weekend, there was a gentleman at the trade show/boxing collector's convention there that had a professionally produced VHS tape of all of Shavers fights that were available on video that he was selling for $20 & ( like an idiot ) I didn't buy it. Of course now I wish I had. :(

The fights are still about, I'd imagine it's the fights doing the rounds on 2-3 DVDs now - They generally start at Ellis fight and end at Yates but include the "hard to find" Roy Williams fight.

[Brutu]

Up until the Ellis fight in 1973(when Don King became Shavers manager).
Cy young baseball pitcher Dean Chance(along with Joeseph Gennaro)had been Shavers managers/promoter.
(also Chance's LA Angels team mate ,Bo Belinsky was a match maker for some of the fights including Shavers-Vincete Rondon)
Baseball players make enough money to afford film and video-tape.
I wonder if they had personaly any of Shavers fights filmed/video-taped?
Maybe someone should ask them.

[Brutu]

Somewhat of television sports broadcast history,
Shavers vrs Ellis was the first HBO , live coast to coast boxing event.
HBO had previously shown live ,Foreman vrs Frazier in 1973,but that was only on a experimental basis,it was only shown on HBO in Pennsylvania and Florida
everywhere else, Foreman -Frazier had to be seen at closed-circuit event.
It would be interesting to see the entire Shavers-Ellis HBO transmission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VsAhEugnsc

[Brutu]

Does HBO have the full telecast of Shavers vrs Ellis/HBO boxing as it was originally aired June 1973 at their web page?
The entire show from opening to closing credits?
I figure if any fight footage of Earnie Shavers existed ( pre -Ellis)HBO would have shown some clips
of those fights on the original June 1973 HBO Boxing show.

[Brutu]

This is a yearly roundup question.
Anyone here know if any new(old)fights of Earnie Shavers have turned up?
Has anyone here seen the 1971 Bob Foster vs Ray Anderson televised
main event fight on video-tape?
Perhaps there could be a clue on it of what remains of that broadcast that was preserved on tape(if it was).

[Brutu]

What about the National AAU heavyweight championship that Shavers won
in 1969? Did any of the televsion networks tape the finals of the tournament in
Salt Lake City for later broadcast?

[Controversial]

ARRRGH!

Back in the early '90s during Earnie's first visit to Canastota's annual Hall of Fame weekend, there was a gentleman at the trade show/boxing collector's convention there that had a professionally produced VHS tape of all of Shavers fights that were available on video that he was selling for $20 & ( like an idiot ) I didn't buy it. Of course now I wish I had. :(

Sounds like the video I bought about 20 years ago, think it was called Worlds Hardest Hitter or something like that. Its in my loft, need to get it transferred to DVD. I imagine most, or all are on youtube

EDIT. Just found it on his wikipedia site, this is the one I bought "Shavers published a video of highlights of his career in 1992 titled 'Earnie D. Shavers, The hardest One-Punch Hitter', and later an autobiography"

[mikeycapp]

A fellow film collector of mine told me he has the Ray Anderson vs Joe Byrd fight which was a 1 Round Knockout from 1969 and who is entering the ring for the what I presume is the walkout bout on the card Earnie Shavers in his pro debut, the film cuts out right after that. The ultimate tease! I called my friend last night and asked him to confirm what he has on DVD, he thought that it was Earnie Shavers pro debut however upon further investigation it is the undercard of the Floyd Patterson vs Levi Forte bout in 1971. Shavers opponent that night was a guy named Jim Shaver who he Ko'd in 1 round. The broadcast announcer says his name as he is entering the ring and the film cuts off!

[evrenb]

I bet Don King could answer this question....

[evrenb]

I remember reading somewhere that at one time Ray Anderson once hinted at violence with Don King over a contract dispute .
Don King(allegedly said)
"Ray,we come from the same gutter,"Let's not jive each other".
You could pick up that phone and make me dead in half an hour.
I can pick it up and have you dead in five minutes".

I love that line..Don King was the 'Don' . . . . with one of the largest 'vault dwelling' fight collections there is!!

[mikeycapp]

Hello Evren,

Something has to open up with the Don King Vaults, he is pretty much a non entity right now with a non existent stable of fighters in fact the only name fighter that I can think of at the moment is Guillermo Jones. Be that as it may I would love to take a peak at that archive for my personal tastes 1974 through 1985, there has to be some very interesting undercard fight in through those years that have never resurfaced since there 1st broadcast date . Regards Mikey Capp

[evrenb]

Hi Mikey

Do you know if anyone has ever approached him about his collection.? He seems to have mellowed of late. I guess his son will inherit his collection...

Evren