Shoot the Moon: Larry Holmes VS. Earnie Shavers, 1979 (Article)
Posted: 09 May 2019, 14:24
To be on the receiving end of an overhand right from “The Black Destroyer” invariably meant being transported, if only momentarily, to another dimension. “I was in the land of make-believe,” former heavyweight contender James Tillis once recalled about the evening Earnie Shavers sent him plummeting onto his face in a Las Vegas ring. “I heard saxophones, trombones. I saw little blue rats, and they were all smoking cigars and drinking whiskey.”
One of the most fearsome KO punchers in history, Earnie Shavers rose from abject poverty to come within an instant of winning the heavyweight championship of the world—twice. In 1977, Shavers, an off-the-board longshot who had once been stopped by Ron Stander, staggered Muhammad Ali en route to dropping a unanimous decision in Madison Square Garden. Although Shavers had Ali visibly hurt after landing one of his pulverizing rights in the second round (Ali, post-fight: “Earnie hit me so hard, he shook my kinfolk back in Africa!”), he was bamboozled by the mind games Ali played while dazed and failed to move in for the kill. Two years later, Shavers would have Larry Holmes in desperate straits as well.
https://hannibalboxing.com/shoot-the-mo ... e-shavers/
One of the most fearsome KO punchers in history, Earnie Shavers rose from abject poverty to come within an instant of winning the heavyweight championship of the world—twice. In 1977, Shavers, an off-the-board longshot who had once been stopped by Ron Stander, staggered Muhammad Ali en route to dropping a unanimous decision in Madison Square Garden. Although Shavers had Ali visibly hurt after landing one of his pulverizing rights in the second round (Ali, post-fight: “Earnie hit me so hard, he shook my kinfolk back in Africa!”), he was bamboozled by the mind games Ali played while dazed and failed to move in for the kill. Two years later, Shavers would have Larry Holmes in desperate straits as well.
https://hannibalboxing.com/shoot-the-mo ... e-shavers/
