BoxRec

Rocky Marciano
Floyd Patterson
Evander Holyfield
Lennox Lewis
Mike Tyson
Riddick Bowe
George Chuvalo

Best chance is against Chuvalo and Patterson.

Earnie would stand a very good chance of catching Patterson early, and he may have caught Marciano as well. I could see him fighting to a draw with Chuvalo, drilling him with everything he has and winning the early rounds and then being outworked in the latter half of the bout. Chuvalo was one of the toughest SOB's in Boxing history, so he'd take Shaver's shots I'd think, I could also see Chuvalo winning a decision or possibly stopping Shavers late in the bout, he wasn't a particularly great offensive fighter himself though, so decision for Chuvalo or draw seems most likely to me, I guess it's not out of the question Shavers could take a decision here as well. Chuvalo/Shavers would be a close fight.

Shavers would be knocked out by Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis and Bowe. Lennox would be extremely careful against a devastating puncher like Shavers, would tie him up on the inside and jab the hell out of him from the outside. After 6 or 7 rounds when Lennox was good and damn sure Shavers was tired, he'd start pounding the hell out of him trying to get him outta there.

Tyson vs Shavers would've been an awesome slugfest in the early going. Tyson would've KO'ed him in the 6th or 7th.

Holyfield, would stop Shavers late in the bout. Bowe would stop him sometime between the 8th and 10th.

He'd ice Floyd, I think he loses the rest with his best bet coming against Lewis.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:He'd ice Floyd, I think he loses the rest with his best bet coming against Lewis.

You don't think he could shake up Rocky Marciano? Marciano was dropped by Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott, certainly not unreasonable to think Shavers could do better.

gilgamesh wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:He'd ice Floyd, I think he loses the rest with his best bet coming against Lewis.

You don't think he could shake up Rocky Marciano? Marciano was dropped by Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott, certainly not unreasonable to think Shavers could do better.

Those guys were much slicker and caught him coming in. Rocky would smother the range Earnie desires to get off. I don't doubt he could catch him, but I have no doubt Marciano would get up. If he catches Lewis it's over.

Was Floyd as "brittle" as his record against Ingemar and Liston would lead us to believe?

I was about to make the same assumptive remarks about Floyd, then I thought about just how much better a boxer he was than Ernie.
and I hesitated. Also, later on in his career he didn't seem to be as vulnerable. Maybe it was bad luck?

BoxBuzz wrote:Was Floyd as "brittle" as his record against Ingemar and Liston would lead us to believe?

I was about to make the same assumptive remarks about Floyd, then I thought about just how much better a boxer he was than Ernie.
and I hesitated. Also, later on in his career he didn't seem to be as vulnerable. Maybe it was bad luck?

His chin issues get overstated, but Floyd liked to trade and he'd find an inviting target in Shavers. He could also light up Earnie with his speed. Either way, I don't see that going past four or five rounds.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:He'd ice Floyd, I think he loses the rest with his best bet coming against Lewis.

You don't think he could shake up Rocky Marciano? Marciano was dropped by Archie Moore and Jersey Joe Walcott, certainly not unreasonable to think Shavers could do better.

Those guys were much slicker and caught him coming in. Rocky would smother the range Earnie desires to get off. I don't doubt he could catch him, but I have no doubt Marciano would get up. If he catches Lewis it's over.

Good points, also with Shavers already bad stamina issues, Marciano would tire him out that much faster with his body work on the inside and his smothering attack.

Shavers -Tyson and Shavers- Marciano should be fun while it lasted.

I think Shavers has a better chance against Marciano than some of you think.

Not saying he would do it, but I can see Earnie landing something real big early before Marciano starts to wear on him.

I don't think it's out of the question he could knock the hell out of Marciano early

gilgamesh wrote:I don't think it's out of the question he could knock the hell out of Marciano early

I do think Shavers has a chance against Marciano, but only in the first few rounds. I'd also fancy Bob Satterfield's chances. However, Marciano had such a high work rate, and was such a brutal puncher himself I think even if he got dropped, he would rise from the canvas, fight ten times harder and wind up knocking out Shavers.