BoxRec

Who do you guys think would win between the atomic power puncher Earnie Shavers and the iron chinned Ray Mercer if they could have met in their respective primes?

Could even Mercers chin stand up to Shavers power for a few rounds, weather the storm and then land his own bombs like in the Morrison fight?

Or would Earnie just be too much for the at times unmotivated Mercer and stop him late in the fashion of when he faced Tiger Williams?

Could this fight even go the distance? if Earnie boxed like he did in his 1st fight against the very capable Henry Clark? If so could Shavers cope with the Jab Mercer showed against Lennox Lewis?

Any views fight fans?

Earnie Shavers never knocked out nay big names. He KOed an old Ken norton who had nothing left(though i think he would have Koed a prime norton). Earnie KOed only jimmy young, and old jimmy ellis, and who else?? roy williams??? earnie shavers landed FLUSH on holmes and still couldnt put him away. He also couldnt put lyle away when he flattened him. Why are all these guys getting up on shavers?? because shavers power is a little overated and he does not have top ower of all time. He does have a lot though, and belongs in top 10 just not top 5. Shavers problem is he has a glass jaw and stamina problems and he countlessly lost fights after he had them won by tring and getting stopped late.
I think It would be tough for earnie too knock out shavers if he couldnt knock out lyle when he had lyle out. I think mercer would survive an early scare them jab earnie and outbox him and earnie would tire and mercer would stop him in later rounds TKO 10.

I really liked Shavers in the day, but this is one (Brockton) that you and I can still agree on. The only caveat I'd like to throw in is that the bomb Shavers landed on Holmes in the 7th round of their second fight occurred very late in the round. If he'd had, say, a minute instead of 15 or 20 seconds, I say he may have gotten Holmes out of there.

However, I recall another fight Shavers had that went just about like you predict Shavers vs. Mercer would go. It was post-Holmes. Shavers was fighting Bernado Mercado, a big South American HW who never quite lived up to the expectations heaped on him. Mercado was down and, as I recall, had also suffered a pretty bad cut. Been then Shavers ran out of gas, Mercado rallied and, in the 7th, the referee stepped in and stopped it with Earnie covering up on the ropes taking shots.

There was nothing overrated about Shavers power! He had absolutely frightening knockout power and anyone that followed his career and watched his fights can tell you, but I think the best testament to that would be his opponents, all of which that I have ever heard speak about who hit them the hardest...it was always Earnie Shavers. Holmes stated that Shavers hit him harder than anyone, but Holmes at that time had the heart of a lion and was not going to stay down for anyone! Also, anyone that has watched Lyle and Foreman slug it out could easily see how it was not an easy task to knockout Lyle, so no shame in no finishing Lyle off. Shavers biggest obstacle was his stamina. He took a good shot, which anyone who has seen his bout with Lyle can attest to, but Ray Mercer had a chin of iron and because of it I'd say that he would beat Shavers on points.

And interesting fight I recall watching with Mercer was against Bert Cooper. It was a fight the inconsistent Cooper, who could punch, really showed up for (I thought), but Mercer's chin was unbreakable that day.

Really, Mercer and Cooper shared some similarities. When motivated, they were both dangerous, but Cooper couldn't take the shots Mercer could take.

Tommy Morrison was boxing Mercer's ears off and landing some very hard shots that did not even cause Mercer to blink before Ray obliterated him! Mercer certainly had one of the top chins in history.

kingpawn wrote:I really liked Shavers in the day, but this is one (Brockton) that you and I can still agree on. The only caveat I'd like to throw in is that the bomb Shavers landed on Holmes in the 7th round of their second fight occurred very late in the round. If he'd had, say, a minute instead of 15 or 20 seconds, I say he may have gotten Holmes out of there..

Doubtful, Holmes had the better in the remaining of that round.

Chances are the young Mercer of the early to mid-90's would almost certainly be too tough for the brittle Shavers. Couldn't rule out a knockdown of Mercer along the way, didn't Holyfield have Mercer down in their fight? The fight might look a lot like Shavers v Lyle, I have a soundless copy of that fight and Lyle is badly, badly hurt but rallies to stop Shavers.

Chopping Right wrote: didn't Holyfield have Mercer down in their fight?.

Yes he did.