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As most of us know, the heavyweight division was at it’s absolute peak during the 1970’s. It is known as the “golden era” for that particular weight class. We saw many great, classic bouts. However, there were some that eluded us. One of which in particular would have surely been a great shoot out for us to witness in Joe Frazier fighting mega puncher, Earnie Shavers.
Earnie, nicknamed “The Black Destroyer,” is thought by most to be the hardest hitting heavyweight boxer that the sport of boxing has ever seen. How true that is cannot be definitively proven or quantified. But even if that popular assumption would prove to be factually incorrect one day, you can bet it would be an assumption that would not be far off from the actual truth. And it is mostly thanks to that huge right hook that Shavers loved to throw to the head of anybody who was unfortunate to be standing there about to take it.
But if fate does exist then it dictated that the man, born in Alabama, was unfortunately never going to win a world title. Although he did come close when he gave the likes of Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes a run for their money. Ali once said ,“Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk back in Africa.”. And Holmes stated that Shavers was the hardest to ever hit him.
Joe Frazier was not exactly known for his power. Although he had a fantastic left hook that contributed toward inflicting defeats on opponents like Muhammad Ali who faced his first defeat to him in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York on March 8th, 1971.His bob and weave fighting style often made it difficult for opponents to hit him flush even though “Smoking Joe” had a pretty good chin. He was halted by George Foreman twice. But not many fighters could withstand the heat that Foreman often brought to the ring. Ali had to go through hell to get a stoppage victory over Frazier in their famous third battle, “The Thrilla In Manila” on October 1st, 1975.
So, why did Shavers and Frazier never meet? Well, it was mostly due to an issue of timing. Frazier was near the end of his career by the time Shavers was heading into the big time and there was not much to gain for either guy.
That leaves us to ponder what would have happened had both met in their prime.
There is a good chance that Frazier’s bob and weave style could cause problems for Shavers, who would have stood as the slightly taller man. The real advantage would have been Shaver’s 79” reach. Although he used it sparingly, Shavers was adept at setting up his other punches with the jab. I think we would have seen an absolute slugfest, with Frazier mostly setting the tempo and coming forward while throwing bombs. If he caught Earnie with his famed left hook then he would have been in with a serious chance of winning.
But I have to go with Shavers due to his devastating punching power. I believe his fists would have contained too much for Joe to withstand and we would have seen an action packed, but quick battle that would end somewhere around the fifth with Joe either on his back or on his knees with the referee stepping in.
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