Richard Dunn vs Earnie Shavers, spring 1976

[Joson]

This fight was scheduled for the spring of 1976, in London, but it was ditched because Dunn got an offer to fight Ali.

Let's imagine Dunn vs. Shavers proceeded as scheduled. Would Dunn have had a chance against Shavers?

[Jaguar]

Chinny Dunn v big-hitting Shavers, so surely Shavers takes him out early.

Dunn's main chance of winning is bamboozling Shavers with his clumsy southpaw style and jabbing to a points win as the Acorn runs out of gas - at least in theory. In reality, I see Shavers as a couple of classes above Dunn and see him winning by KO.

[Joson]

Chinny Dunn v big-hitting Shavers, so surely Shavers takes him out early.

Dunn's main chance of winning is bamboozling Shavers with his clumsy southpaw style and jabbing to a points win as the Acorn runs out of gas - at least in theory. In reality, I see Shavers as a couple of classes above Dunn and see him winning by KO.

I agree.

Question is, could Dunn have done anything to keep Shavers off him? Richard couldn't afford to be hit by a single punch, especially in the early rounds. He'd have to jump on Shavers and keep attacking, scoring often with awkward southpaw blows, like the right-jab and left-cross, keeping Earnie confused and off-balance. After that, Shavers - who threw immense numbers of extremely powerful blows at the start of all his fights - might be too winded to fight efficiently.

But it's unlikely Dunn could have succeeded.

BTW, their reach was approximately equal: 79" (Shavers) vs 80" (Dunn). The Englishman enjoyed a three inch height advantage. They had the same weight.

[scorpio83]

Shavers would pull a David Tua on the Michael Moorer, who was a southpaw like Dunn, but a poor man version as Shavers would blast Dunn out with a devastating right hand in either 1 or 2 rounds.

[oogiebe]

No intrigue here. Shavers as soon as he landed.

[HomicideHenry]

Man you must hate Richard Dunn.