Given Shaver's vaunted concussive power and Frazier's somewhat vulnerable chin and Frazier mean left hook and Shavers china chin, and Joe's slow starting and Shaver's fast starting and Frazier being known for his relentlessness and Shavers not necessarily known for give and take over a long fight....................... You could have my 8 year old and his two best friends judge this fight, because it aint going the distance!!! Shavers KO 2
Joe did not fare well against plodding big punchers, and that is probably why he never fought Shavers or Lyle. I loved Frazier as a fighter, but this would have been who got who the "fastest with the mostest."
Joe Frazier was a championship calibur fighter. Shavers just wasn't. Frazier by KO. Honestly, Shavers power is epic, but he was a horrible fighter. Without his power I think Tye Fields punishes him, he was that bad.
Shavers always was over-rated. He does not have what it takes to beat Frazier. A big punch just won't cut it against the elite if that's virtually all you possess --- & Shavers' career bears this out, losing to most of his top-flight opposition. Frazier steamrolls him.
I don't think it's that simple at all. Watch Shavers-Lyle. To me Lyle was a more versatile fighter than Frazier and more suited to absorbing the onslaught he had to through those first 4 or so rounds. Im not sure if Frazier stands up to it if Shavers proves strong enough to push him back to the ropes like he did Lyle. Ive picked Frazier to come through the fire, but I wouldn't bet a dime on this fight except that it wouldn't go the distance. I'd have money on Shavers through the first 5 and Frazier through the first 8 and wouldn't try to get clever with it beyond that at all.
Frazier's ability to, "come through the fire," is usually not given its due, ironically as a result of his losing to arguably the most destructive force in HW history. Shavers isn't even close to being as dangerous as Foreman. They are like man & child. Basically, if you kept Foreman's wrecking ball of a right hand, but removed his ramrod jab & thumping left hook, ground down his chin & weakened his killer instinct, slowed his early-rounds onslaught & reduced the proficiency of his footwork, you'd be left with Shavers. He is not a patch on Foreman, & he would not be a patch on Frazier. Frazier could not hurt Foreman --- he landed. Such would not be the case with the decidedly more fragile Shavers.
Frazier gets floored in the opening round and then comes back to knock Shavers dead... I don't even think it takes him three rounds Anybody who thinks SHavers had what it takes to do what ONLY GEORGE FOREMAN DID is fucking nuts and is not only badly overestimating Shavers but more importantly, has ZERO respect for Joe Frazier and little understanding of just how good he was
Has nothing to do with how good Frazier was or how bad Shaver was. We all know that Frazier only ever got KO'd by Foreman and we all know that Shavers was basically a punch and nothing else. However... Frazier's a slow starter with a vulnerable chin in the early rounds (not just Foreman...but Bonavena also showed this...Ali stumbled him quite a bit in the 2nd round of their second fight too)..and Shavers arguably hit harder than ANYONE in the history of the Heavyweight division...and was a very fast starter. If they hadn't already fought, you be saying the EXACT SAME THING about a Shavers-Norton Mythical Matchup had it happened in say...1979 and few months after he went 15 rounds with Holmes. Frazier's slow starting, come forward style, vulnerable chin in the early rounds, vs Shavers fast starting HUGE power..make this a pick'em fight...regardless of Frazier being the much better fighter overall. REGARDLESS!!!!!
