BoxRec

What I wouldn't give to have Earnie in todays heavyweight division

Man that video of Shavers knocking out Norton in the first round was awesome! If there were those South Park characters Stan would say "OH MY GOD EARNIE SHAVERS KILLED KENNY NORTON!" and Kyle would follow up saying "YOU BASTARD!"

Norton didn't know how to deal with big punchers.

I remember watching that fight . Couple things come to mind in that one. Why did Norton back into and stay on the ropes . Bad move. And Mills Lane, usally a good ref never should have let that fight to continue after Norton was down the first time. Kenny was in bad shape and Shavers teed off.

A lot of posters in the past have talked about how Earnie's power was mainly in his right hand. Yet, when you watch the Norton fight, you can see clearly that Shaver's left hook is very formidable. He's even leaning into Norton with the intent of throwing the left, not necessarily looking to land just the big right.

Earnie's left, in my opinion, was a better weapon than Joe Frazier's right. No doubt Shaver's legacy is his big right hand, but he also had legitimate KO power in his left -- two fisted power that few punchers in HW history could ever equal.

kingpawn wrote:Earnie's left, in my opinion, was a better weapon than Joe Frazier's right. No doubt Shaver's legacy is his big right hand, but he also had legitimate KO power in his left -- two fisted power that few punchers in HW history could ever equal.

I would agree that Shavers left was harder than Fraziers right, but Fraziers hand speed and technique were light years better than Shavers.[/b]

Shavers didnt just show he had a good left hook in the Norton fight, but he showed it in the Lyle bout where he smashed Lyle with that left in the 2nd round of their fight, I still think Lyle should of been counted out there and then.

Shavers right hand on Quick Tillis was a good one as well and it showed Shavers power was with him at his late stage of his career.

Anybody seen Shavers' knockout of (I think) Frank Smith?

Cracks him with a right hand, Smith's neck snaps back over the rope, pretty good knockout. He sort of stands there and gradually stumbles forward and then hits the floor.

RazorKO wrote:Shavers didnt just show he had a good left hook in the Norton fight, but he showed it in the Lyle bout where he smashed Lyle with that left in the 2nd round of their fight, I still think Lyle should of been counted out there and then.

Yea that was a real good shot, quite fast. It's amazing what Shavers could do with one punch what might take Foreman a whole barrage. Same with Norton. He took a load of flush Foreman shots before going down (still rose at the end), but the first flush punch from Shavers sent Norton into Oblivion.

Then there's the Ellis knockout, one punch. Frazier had to hit Ellis quite a few times before putting him away. Shavers was the hardest puncher in heavyweight history in my opinion, followed by Liston, Lewis and Foreman. Although the greatest punchers were Louis and Tyson when taking into account speed, accuracy, combinations etc.

I think that would be a great match actually...Samuel Peter versus Earnie Shavers.

Both men have the same problem(s), they lack stamina and endurance, anybody who could get passed the first few rounds would have one helluva chance. Plus their technique is sloppy.

But I'd have to really give it to Shavers, not so much because he faced better fighters, but he was still a top ten contender after he was blind in one eye and far more slower than he was in his prime---if I recall when he faced Randall "Tex" Cobb, Gerry Cooney, who was doing commentary, was originally slated to face Shavers and Cooney was the #1 contender of the WBC, but got injured in training.

Taylor wrote:What I wouldn't give to have Earnie in todays heavyweight division

He could probably come back at aged 60ish & still knock out most the losers around today.

I'd pick him to beat Audley Harrison!

Then again, I'd pick a Nintendog to beat Harrison, so that's not saying much. :P

Decagon wrote:

Taylor wrote:What I wouldn't give to have Earnie in todays heavyweight division

I could be extremely mean and tell you to watch Sam Peters, but even I'm not that jaded.

Or that mis-informed. Please explain exactly what Sam Peter has done to indicate that he punches as hard as Shavers? What quality HWs has he KOd?

Well he did knock down Wladimir Klitschko down three times in there fight, and maybe that ain't considered a real feat because so many others have done that as well also---but from jumping from the C-B level fighters to a man once considered to be the next "great heavyweight" and now current IBF champion is saying something.

He could have won hadn't he not ran out of gas, in my opinion. Shavers had the same problem, lacked stamina. Besides I read somewhere that Peter benches well over 350 pounds and does sets of 10 presses. I can't think of many athletes, let alone boxers with that kind of brute strength.

How come Earnie was never scheduled to fight George Foreman.

expug wrote:after Norton was down the first time. Kenny was in bad shape and Shavers teed off.

Yeah Mills Lane should have stopped it after Norton tried grabbing for the ropes and didn't know where the hell he was, poor guy.

Nile4000 wrote:How come Earnie was never scheduled to fight George Foreman.

I suppose they didn't quite overlap, Earnie coming through a couple of years after big George had been beaten by Ali. A good matchup would have been Norton vs Frazier, but didn't happen cos they were mates apparently.

Yep and according to the current wisdom of this forum Frazier would have plowed through Norton like so much snow....I was one of only a few voices that thought it would be highly competitive.

Then there's the Ellis knockout, one punch. Frazier had to hit Ellis quite a few times before putting him away.

ellis was completley shot when he fought shavers, not much credit to this win if any at all

Hate to change the subject but I always wondered if Foreman fought that "other" Jimmy Ellis just to give historians fits.

jimmy ellis knocked out joe louis in 5

well....that was a young Joe Louis...and should hardly be held against him.

Or possibly Youg Joe Louis?
Chicago cruiserweight. Fought Leroy Murphy.

expug wrote:Or possibly Youg Joe Louis?
Chicago cruiserweight. Fought Leroy Murphy.

ya boxbuzz was just making a funny joke out of it

I know , I was just clownin.