It SEEMS like everyone has an Earnie Shavers story to tell and a memory of a meet, greet or session watching him screw people up in the ring. No one on either side of the ropes ever forgets a meeting with Shavers.
The poverty, the preaching, the testimonials from the best in our business, all form a backdrop to the story of Earnie Shavers. The snatched moments, the grainy film of another tough, tough man falling incoherently to the canvas are part of her rich story. Shaking his giant hand at midnight outside a bar in Liverpool.
Between the day Shavers turned pro in 1969 and his horrible last fight in 1995, I think 31 men held a version of the world heavyweight title. Shavers, as you know, never fastened a belt; Truly epic defeats to Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes denied him. And he peaked at a time of truly noble warriors.
In the decade Shavers began fighting, Ingemar Johansson was world heavyweight champion; in the decade that ended, Vitali Klitschko was the champion. Some of the men who held the world heavyweight title between Ingo and Vitali were truly great fighters and would make a holy list. There were others who were blessed by luck: Lucky moment.
Shavers was there with the best, his name now a blatant omission from the book of champions.
Everyone in boxing knows that Shavers would have won a world title in a different era, in an era when men were cunningly matched and men like Earnie were ignored. He would have beaten suitors like Samuel Peter, Oleg Maskaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Bermane Stiverne, Bruce Seldon, Hasim Rahman, Henry Akinwande, Ruslan Chagaev and perhaps a dozen other men who won versions of the world title once Shavers retired. I know, they weren’t all the proper so-called world champions, but they still had a world heavyweight championship belt. Earnie never did.
Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, Jerry Quarry, Gerry Cooney and Joe Bugner would have also beaten the men on the list. Earnie Shavers isn’t the only man caught up in one of boxing’s golden periods. He was just one of 10 heavyweight greats who shared the prime of his life as a fighter with Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Larry Holmes. Shavers also shared the last significant years of his wrestling life with Mike Tyson. And it’s worth remembering that the Lost Generation fighters were all fantastic fighters when motivated.
Shavers could have beaten Tony Tucker, Trevor Berbick, Tony Tubbs, Bonecrusher Smith, Pinklon Thomas, Michael Dokes, John Tate, Greg Page and Tim Witherspoon. They are the Lost Generation and they could all really fight back; they’re the most underrated heavyweight gang in history and that’s understandable because they’ve all been in terrible fights, some of which were iffy. Anyone from the Lost Generation with the right motivation at the right time would have been a handful for Shavers. It would have taken a classic Shavers performance to win. He could have beaten them all, but he wouldn’t have run through any of them if they had been in good shape; he would have knocked them all out if they had walked in reluctantly, fat and miserable. And, the Lost Generation were experts at fighting halfheartedly.
The drugs, the money, the sideshows, the endless broken promises ruined the Lost Generation. Shavers was on the fringes, not quite finished as a hazard, when they began to win, lose and die. They were a terrible waste, one of boxing’s great embarrassments. Many of them are dead now and what brutally gruesome deaths they seemed to suffer; Nobody needed a pipe and slippers, that’s for sure.
Earnie Shavers was never big with a pipe, a comfy chair, and a pair of shabby slippers. The testimonials from everyone who knew him on both sides of the ropes and both sides of the street have been overwhelming. The man was loved, but it is the classic fights that shape love.
Mine is the night in 1976 at the Aladdin in Las Vegas when she met the infamous and rather lunatic Roy Williams. He is the man who wanted his money for not fighting on the night of the Rumble in the Jungle.
He is the man who fought Ali in two gym wars for money. He had to fight that day at dawn, it rained, he never fought and they didn’t pay him. Well, that’s the bulk of the story. I don’t care if part of that story is made up; I know much of it is true. Anyway, Roy fights Earnie in 10 rounds one night. He is X rated.
The ninth and tenth are truly incredible rounds, both men could have been saved by the referee or their corners. it’s chaos. There are counts when they’re stuck, limp and vulnerable on the ropes in a corner. Every time I see him, I still yell at the referee to move to save them both. Instead, it gives a count. An earl! They’re lying on the ropes, totally missing. In minute 10, with seconds remaining and after one of the accounts, Big Roy Williams simply falls like a collapsed monument to the canvas. He sinks like a chimney at dawn; I swear, you can feel the ring shake. Shavers can barely walk, the fight is finally over. It’s a fight for the ages with a dark age ending. Less than a year later, Earnie completes all 15 rounds with Ali.
Earnie Shavers remains, even without a crown of any kind, boxing royalty. And that will never change. He will never be one of the heavyweights lost.
