Earnie Dee Shaver (born August 31, 1945),
best known as Earnie Shavers, is an American former professional boxer
and two time world heavyweight title challenger. He is considered
by most boxing experts to be the hardest puching knockout artist of
all time. Having knocked out or stopped fifty of his opponents inside
of three rounds, his one punch power remains legendary in the boxing
community. In a career spanning 26 years, Shavers defeated three world
champions in Vicente Rondon, Jimm Ellis and Ken Norton, as well as
top contenders such as Jimmy Young and Joe Bugner. Shavers' status
as the hardest puncher of all time was backed up by former opponents
such as Norton, Young, Bugner, Ron Lyle, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes
and James Tillis.
Amateur career
Prior to turning professional,
Shavers had a short but notable amateur career. He was the 1969 National
AAU Heavyweight champion.
Early professional career
Known as
the "Black Destroyer," Shavers compiled an impressive record, winning
44 of his first 47 fights by knockout; mostly against unremarkable
opposition. His KO streak included 27 consecutive knockouts, of which
20 victories were in the first round. He suffered setbacks with losses
to Ron Standler and Stan Johnson.
He began to rise through the
ranks of the heavyweight division after he hired a Cleveland based
promoter and ex-con named Don King to be his manager. His wins included
a novice Jimmy Young who would later become a top contender. Stepping
up the class of opposition, he came to public prominence with a first
round KO of one time WBA heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis. His progress
was halted when he was KO'd in the first round by Jerry Quarry which
was followed by another loss to a journeyman Bob Stallings. Shavers
then had a thunderous match with hard hitting Ron Lyle but was stopped
after 6 brutal rounds. He then knocked out hard hitter Howard King
and beat Roy Williams in a back and forward battle in which Shavers
was nearly knocked out. The latter Shavers always said was one of
the toughest of his whole career.
Shavers vs Ali
Shavers fought
Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden on September 29, 1977. Coming
into the bout, Shavers had a record of 54-5-1, with 52 knockouts.
Ali nicknamed Shavers "The Acorn" because of his shaved bald head,
unlike early appearances. The fight was shown in prime time broadcast
television by NBC, which rarely did prime time fights (ABC tended
to get the Ali fights) and had the judges' scoring announced after
eqach round to help avoid any controversial decision. Ali's cornerman
Angelo Dundee had a crony (Baltimore matchmaker Eddie Hrica) in the
dressing room watching the broadcast, and would get signals from his
friend on the scoring. In the second round, Shavers hurt Ali badly
with an overhand right. Ali exaggerated his motions enough that it
seemed he might be play acting and Shavers hesitated. On the scorecard
they exchanged rounds. Ali won the fifth decisively. To win the fight
Ali had to survive the last three rounds. Shavers, whose stamina was
suspect before the fight, came alive in the 13th round. In the 14th,
he battered Ali about the ring. Before the 15th, (according to the
story by Sports Illustrated's great boxing writer Pat Putnam) "Ali
was on very wobbly legs."
Realizing Ali needed to last three
more minutes, Dundee told him, "You don't look so good. You better
go out and take this round." In a furious final round, the two men
tagged each other, but Ali closed strongly, nearly dropping Shavers
in the last 20 seconds. He won a unanimous decision. The next day,
Garden Match Maker Teddy Brenner encouraged Ali to retire by stating
the Garden would never make another offer to host an Ali fight. Brenner
also thought that Shavers deserved the nod against Ali. The fight
made the cover of Sports Illustrated, with "ALI'S DESPERATE HOUR"
featuring a photograph of Shavers scoring with an overhand right.
Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco also urged Ali to retire after noting
the damage Ali had absorbed against Shavers. Ali later said Shavers
was the hardest puncher he ever faced, famously stating "Earnie hit
me so hard, it shook my kinfolk back in Africa" although Ali had previously
used this amusing punch line in reference to various other hard hitting
opponents.
