Earnie Shavers, 100% voted hardest puncher ever?

[Fireball]

Has there been any fighter that fought Earnie that didn't name him as hardest puncher they ever fought? Holmes and Ali who fought Earnie, rated Earnie's power above Foreman, Liston and Tyson.
I never remember any fighter rating him down their top puncher list.

[MEISINGER]

earnie is one of my favorite fighters ever
and no one that i can think of was ever as powerful
he is punching power is nearly what you would read in mythology
he either knocked you out or was knocked out swinging

i would of loved to have seen him in with either klitschko
if he connected on wlad he wins
and we would really see just how good vitali's chin was

[gilgamesh]

earnie is one of my favorite fighters ever
and no one that i can think of was ever as powerful
he is punching power is nearly what you would read in mythology
he either knocked you out or was knocked out swinging

i would of loved to have seen him in with either klitschko
if he connected on wlad he wins
and we would really see just how good vitali's chin was

Definitely would be interesting bouts

[witherspoon]

Last word, as usual, goes to Tex Cobb.
'Nobody hit harder than Ernie Shavers, if anybody hit harder than Ernie Shavers I would shoot him'.
Elegently crude.

[MEISINGER]

Last word, as usual, goes to Tex Cobb.
'Nobody hit harder than Ernie Shavers, if anybody hit harder than Ernie Shavers I would shoot him'.
Elegently crude.

they will never make another one quite like tex cobb
that s.o.b. cracks me up

[gilgamesh]

Last word, as usual, goes to Tex Cobb.
'Nobody hit harder than Ernie Shavers, if anybody hit harder than Ernie Shavers I would shoot him'.
Elegently crude.

classic line from Tex

[BoxBuzz]

In addition to that first Tex Cobb quote...here are few more "testamonials" to Earnie's ability to shake things up.




·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 "Quick" 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." "No doubtThe baddest motherf*cker I fought was Earnie Shavers. That motherf*cker can make July into June and made me jump over the mf'n moon. 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."

[witherspoon]

I can just imagine all kinds of junkies queing up to be hit by Shavers after hearing what Tillis had to say.

[Fireball]

Last word, as usual, goes to Tex Cobb.
'Nobody hit harder than Ernie Shavers, if anybody hit harder than Ernie Shavers I would shoot him'.
Elegently crude.

they will never make another one quite like tex cobb
that s.o.b. cracks me up

Ahem, Bruce the Mouse Strauss. A natural comic genius.

[Fireball]

When you got guys who fought Foreman; Lyle, Ali.
Guy who fought Liston; Ali.
Guy who fought Mike Tyson; Larry Holmes
and They all site Shavers as the hardest hitter they ever faced.
I don't care who you are, that is some expert testimony right there. .

[Fireball]

some interesting quotes:

·Tex Cobb: "Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I'd shoot him." (yes, already menioned above)
·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: "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."

My vote for best quotes so far goes to ....................Mister James Quick Tillis!

[Fireball]

Never ever noticed someone to slam Earnie like this.
"Earnie Shavers, the heavyweight featherfist"

Here's an interesting article where the author questions Earnies place as hardest hitter.

Interesting stats, did a buttload of research. The author makes some interesting points and
It's a good read.

http://www.heavyweightblog.com/2318/ear ... eatherfist

[gilgamesh]

Never ever noticed someone to slam Earnie like this.
"Earnie Shavers, the heavyweight featherfist"

Here's an interesting article where the author questions Earnies place as hardest hitter.

Interesting stats, did a buttload of research. The author makes some interesting points and
It's a good read.

http://www.heavyweightblog.com/2318/ear ... eatherfist

Biggest problem with that, The author wasn't in the ring with Earnie Shavers. All of the other guys were.

[gilgamesh]

Also the guy mentions his best victories as Jimmy Ellis and Joe Bugner...No mention of Ken Norton or Jimmy Young.

One more thing, the guy mentions that Earnie Shavers has 90+ wins. He doesn't even have 90 fights. He has 89 fights.

[Fireball]

Also the guy mentions his best victories as Jimmy Ellis and Joe Bugner...No mention of Ken Norton or Jimmy Young.

One more thing, the guy mentions that Earnie Shavers has 90+ wins. He doesn't even have 90 fights. He has 89 fights.

Jimmy Young was a cruiserweight both times he fought him. But yeah, I see what you mean, the blogger needs to tighten up on his numbers a little. Needs to squeeze Norton in there.
Shavers did KO lots of bums, but look at the hapless crowd that Julian Jackson KO'd on his way to a title shot.

[knn]

Also the guy mentions his best victories as Jimmy Ellis and Joe Bugner...No mention of Ken Norton or Jimmy Young.

One more thing, the guy mentions that Earnie Shavers has 90+ wins. He doesn't even have 90 fights. He has 89 fights.

Probably because there is a discrepancy between Boxrec and Wikipedia: Boxrec lists Cleo Daniels as opponent (and Wikipedia doesn't), while Wikipedia lists Jim Carefelli (while Boxrec doesn't).

[Chuck1052]

Earnie Shavers is the hardest puncher I ever saw, bar none.

- Chuck Johnston

[Controversial]

http://www.heavyweightblog.com/2318/ear ... eatherfist

For some reason that link won't open for me. Shavers has to be rated as the hardest puncher ever however it is interesting to see that some of his KO opponents weighed between 12-13 stone or had awful records. He tended to lose when he fought anyone decent but for practically every one of his opponents to say he was the biggest puncher they fought is testament to his power.

[Brutu]

Someone should do a series of books.
FACING EARNIE SHAVERS
FACING GEORGE FOREMAN
FACING JOE FRAZIER etc.
were they not only interview all of their (particularly)lesser known opponents,
but also their former sparring partners.
I bet there is a lot of stories those guys can tell that will probably be never written down,
and because of that,forgotten for future boxing fans and historians.
Just think of the opponents of Shaver's in the days before word of his power got around.
BTW how many of Shaver's former opponents are still around including
the amateurs?
I seem to remember reading in his autobiography from 20000 most were either dead,destitute or in prison.

[MEISINGER]

Never ever noticed someone to slam Earnie like this.
"Earnie Shavers, the heavyweight featherfist"

Here's an interesting article where the author questions Earnies place as hardest hitter.

Interesting stats, did a buttload of research. The author makes some interesting points and
It's a good read.

http://www.heavyweightblog.com/2318/ear ... eatherfist

i just read his theory and then i went to his link on greatest heavyweights
at one point calls ali= chinny and frazier as feather fisted

this guy is the biggest klitschko nuthugger in history
and i would not be surprised to find out he was paid by the klits

[The Great John L]

Could this be the topic that brings Irene back?

[BoxBuzz]

Well Earnie being feather fisted and Ali being chinny is completely demonstrated in round 2 of their fight.

One can clearly see how lightly Ali was tapped by Earnies half hearted swing , and how incredibly long it took Ali to recoup.

Out of curiosity, had anyone ever seen Ali affected by a punch as much as he was by that one? I'm thinkin that was th #1 ding of his career.


anyway, both were lightweights in those respective catagories.....the author has done his job, Case closed.

[HomicideHenry]

I could have sworn Holmes said that the single hardest shot he ever took was from Cooney, and Foreman also said Cooney hit him the hardest. I think Cooney may have the best claim of the heavyweights to be as hard a puncher if not harder than Shavers.

[The Great John L]

I could have sworn Holmes said that the single hardest shot he ever took was from Cooney, and Foreman also said Cooney hit him the hardest. I think Cooney may have the best claim of the heavyweights to be as hard a puncher if not harder than Shavers.

Larry probably doesn’t even remember that one shot that Earnie hit him with, and George’s recollection of all those times Lyle dinged him are pretty fuzzy as well.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

No way is Cooney in the top 10 Heavyweight punchers.