Earnie Shavers, Gone at 78, Was The Bambino of Boxing’s Biggest Boppers

Published

2 years ago

September 2, 2022

Earnie Shavers, Gone at 78, Was The Bambino of Boxing’s Biggest Boppers

The technology of sports today, most of them anyway, has become so advanced that what once was the stuff of legend – tales of incredible individual feats that tended to grow taller with the passage of time – now seem like mathematical equations more appropriate for a NASA space launch. Take baseball, for example. The exact distance of every home run hit now in the big leagues almost instantly can be determined by a computer, which also supplies such minutiae as the ball’s exit velocity and the launch angle of the batter’s swing.

All of which means that no matter how many home runs New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge crushes this season, or how precisely calculated the distances of some of his longer blasts are, he can never fire a modern fan’s imagination to the extent that a pre-computerized Babe Ruth did. One of the most oft-recited examples of Ruthian prowess is the ball he hit for his 714^th and final homer, and third of the day, when the 40-year-old Babe, then playing for the Boston Braves, completely cleared the 86-foot stands of Pittsburgh’s spacious Forbes Field. The ball landed on the roof of a rowhouse across the street, some eyewitnesses swearing that it even flew over the roof by 50 feet. The generally accepted distance for Ruth’s career parting shot is an epic 600 feet, which fans are free to believe or not.

Boxing’s analytics have not yet caught up to baseball’s, although CompuBox’s punch-counting statistics at least give the sweet science a veneer of what might yet be. Don’t dismiss the possibility that someday in the not-too-distant future computer chips will be embedded in fighter’s gloves that will provide detailed information as to how many pounds per square inch were delivered by a knockout blow. When and if that day comes, much of the wonderment attached to fans’ fascination with power punchers will be reduced to cold, hard and mostly dissatisfying statistics.

It would be overstating matters to describe heavyweight slugger Earnie Shavers, who passed away Thursday, the day after his 78^th birthday, as “The Bambino” of boxing. Unlike Ruth, still arguably the greatest baseball player of all time and whose 714^th home-run ball is still a cherished memento in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., Shavers is not an inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and likely never will be. He has certain losses to at least partially offset his raft of awe-inspiring knockout victories, and historians can argue, correctly, that “The Acorn” – the nickname conferred upon him by Muhammad Ali – had stamina issues that limited his maximum effectiveness to five or six rounds, as well as a relative inability to shake off the kind of big punches that he so routinely delivered.

The power quotient of the 6’1”, 210-pound Shavers, however, has continued to be discussed in the manner of those who somehow have been at ground zero during a tornado or a tsunami. Even those who survived the potential natural disaster of having shared the ring with him speak of the experience with hushed reverence.

“Man, I been in there with the best,” said James “Quick” Tillis, who scored a 10-round unanimous decision over Shavers on June 10, 1982. “I fought a bald-headed guy named Earnie Shavers, who was the baddest dude in the world. He hit so hard, he could turn goat milk into gasoline.”

And this, from Randall “Tex” Cobb, who stopped Shavers in eight rounds on Aug. 2, 1980: “Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I’d shoot him.”

Also this, from Ron Lyle, after he scored a six-round TKO over Shavers on Sept. 13, 1975: “Hey, man, that’s the hardest I’ve ever been hit in my life. George Foreman could punch, but none of them could like hit Earnie Shavers did. When he hit you, the lights went out. I can laugh about it now, but at the time it wasn’t funny.”

A 35-year-old Ali was pushed to the limit in defending his WBA, WBC and The Ring heavyweight titles on a 15-round unanimous decision on Sept. 29, 1977, after which he remarked that “Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa.” He further noted that Shavers was “stronger than Joe Frazier and George Foreman. I don’t know why I picked on him so late in my career.”

The Ali bout was the first of Shavers’ two bids for his sport’s grandest prize, but it wasn’t his most notable career near-achievement. That would be his rematch with WBC champion Larry Holmes on Sept. 28, 1979, at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace. They previously had fought on March 25, 1978, with Holmes, who had yet to win the title, winning a 12-round unanimous decision.

Holmes had plunged to the canvas in the seventh round as if poleaxed by the kind of percussive shot that almost without fail resulted into Shavers winning right then and there. But this was the “Easton Assassin,” whose recuperative powers on this night would prove a match for the challenger’s vaunted firepower.

“If I had one fight, one moment, I could do over, it’d be in the second fight with Larry Holmes,” a reflective Shavers recalled years later. “The punch I had been trying to land all night finally found its mark. An overhand right caught Holmes flush on the button, and down as if he had been deboned. As I headed to the neutral corner, Holmes didn’t stir. I was the heavyweight champion of the world. All my troubles were finally over. It was the greatest feeling I’d ever had. And it lasted for five whole seconds.”

Holmes, who surprised maybe even himself by pulling himself back onto his feet before the count reached 10, somehow made it to the bell ending the round and thereafter seized control again en route to winning by 11^th-round TKO. But he never forgot what it was like to be drilled like he’d never been nailed before or later. He would later say that Shavers had hit him harder than Mike Tyson did.

“Man, I still got knots in my head where he hit me,” the “Easton Assassin” recalled. “Earnie could punch very hard, incredibly hard. I hear people say, `Aw, man, he couldn’t possibly have hit as hard as everyone says.’ They think the stories about Earnie’s power are exaggerated. It’s no exaggeration. That power was real.”

Perhaps, had he not risen to prominence in the midst of one of the most gilded golden ages of heavyweight boxing in the 1970s and into the early ’80s, Shavers might have claimed an alphabet title during a less talent-rich era. But being very good, and exceptionally on those occasions when he got there first with a massive shot, wasn’t good enough considering that Shavers’ contemporaries included Ali, Holmes, Foreman, Frazier, Lyle, Gerry Cooney, Ken Norton, Michael Spinks, Jerry Quarry, Jimmy Ellis, George Chuvalo, Jimmy Ellis and Oscar Bonavena. And while Shavers registered quick knockouts of Norton, Ellis and Young, he also lost inside the distance in matchups with Lyle, Cobb, Quarry and Bernardo Mercado. Including two ill-advised comebacks in 1987 and ’95, he finished 74-14-1, with 68 KOs.

I interviewed Shavers for a fight card on Sept. 26, 2013, at the Sands Bethlehem Events Center in Bethlehem, Pa. He was there along with fellow golden oldies Holmes, Cooney and Thomas Hearns for a meet-and-greet with fans that had paid an additional fee to get autographs and to pose for pictures.

Asked whom he considered to be the hardest-hitting heavyweight, Shavers, then 68, not surprisingly, described himself as “Number One. No one can outpunch me, except God.”

Any list, be it pound-for-pound, hardest puncher, best boxer or whatever, is subjective. Opinions will always vary. In 2003, Shavers was listed as the 10^th-greatest puncher of all time, regardless of weight class, by The Ring, following heavyweights Joe Louis (1), Jack Dempsey (7) and Foreman (9), but ahead of Rocky Marciano (14), Sonny Liston (15) and Tyson (16). Another list of the “Hardest hitters in heavyweight history,” was posted by ESPN.com’s Graham Houston on Dec. 27, 2007, and it had Tyson at No. 1, Louis third, Foreman fourth, Marciano fifth and Shavers sixth.

A more recent such list, The Ring’s 100 greatest punchers of the last 100 years, appeared in a special June 2022 collector’s special. Louis again got the top spot, with Dempsey (4), Foreman (5) and Shavers (6) also in the top 10. The second 10 included heavyweights Marciano (11), Liston (12), Tyson (13), Deontay Wilder (16) and Max Baer (20).

Lists spark debates, and arguing the merits of fighters from different eras has always been a component of what makes boxing enthralling. Was Shavers the biggest hitter ever? Maybe, or maybe not. But he deserves to be in any such discussion, and that should be good enough. God forbid that the barroom arguments that have always sufficed until now move into the realm of digital printouts.

Somewhere, the late, great Babe Ruth probably is glad that he played his game the way it was then.

Bernard Fernandez, named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Observer category with the Class of 2020, was the recipient of numerous awards for writing excellence during his 28-year career as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. Fernandez’s first book, “Championship Rounds,” a compendium of previously published material, was released in May of last year. The sequel, “Championship Rounds, Round 2,” with a foreword by Jim Lampley, is currently out. The anthology can be ordered through Amazon.com and other book-selling websites and outlets.

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Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

Published

2 days ago

January 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Skylar-Lacy-Blocked-for-Lamar-Jackson-Before-Making-his-Mark-in-Boxing

Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

Published

4 days ago

January 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Mizuki-Hiruta-Dominates-in-her-U.S.-Debut-and-Trinidad-Wins-Too-at-Commerce

Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Published

5 days ago

January 16, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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