Former World Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes, who faced the likes of Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, is often credited with having one of the best jabs in boxing, but he took big shots from some of the division’s best too.
Holmes, who recently had some derisory remarks about current heavyweights, was champion from 1978 until 1985. He beat Ali, Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams, and Marvis Frazier, though lost to names like Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Oliver McCall across 75 total fights with 69 wins.
In an interview with Boxing News, Holmes was asked who hit the hardest out of Tyson, Shavers and Cooney, and he didn’t hesitate in picking Shavers.
“Earnie Shavers, no doubt about it. He could knock the hell out of you!”
Earnie Shavers has long been spoken of as one of the biggest hitters in the sport.
The Alabama-born fighter fought twice for world heavyweight titles and, in a total of 89 contests, he also faced legendary names like Ali. Of those fights, which spanned 26 years from 1969 to 1995, he won 74, 68 by stoppage.
Most famous of all was the unanimous decision defeat to Ali in September 1977 at Madison Square Garden for the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles. Just under two years later came his marquee win – a first-round knockout of Norton.
Later in 1979, he took on Holmes for the WBC title and though he managed to put the Easton Assassin down in the seventh round, he was himself stopped by technical knockout in the 11th.
