Muhammad Ali is regularly referred to as the best heavyweight to ever lace up the gloves. Earnie Shavers, who fought him over 15 rounds, believes one man was superior.
Shavers is up there with the hardest punchers in boxing history, though his knockout power couldn’t save him against the slick and stylish Ali, who beat him by unanimous decision in 1977. That’s not to say Shavers didn’t come close – he had ‘The Greatest’ hurt early and late in the fight and was forever impressed by how the champ was still standing.
Despite it being regarded as one of Ali’s best late performances, Shavers was more impressed by his next opponent, Larry Holmes. He fought ‘The Easton Assassin’ in ’78 over twelve rounds, losing a unanimous decision.
Holmes – the only man to defeat Ali by stoppage, albeit an Ali unfit to be in the ring – beat Shavers for a second time in ’79 by eleventh round stoppage.
Speaking to Boxing News, Shavers compared the two fighters and favoured Holmes in his best of all time rankings.
“I think Larry Holmes was the best fighter I ever fought. He was better than Ali. See, they both had great jabs, but Ali’s was a flicking jab; Holmes’ was a puncher’s jab! They were both truly great of course, but I give Larry the edge.”
The fights with the men above were Shavers’ only world title challenges. When he hung up the gloves with 76 wins from 91 fights and an incredible 70 knockouts, he went down in history as one of the most destructive heavyweights to never win the division’s top prize.
