Jimmy Ellis pulls out and Earnie Shaver comes in to face Joe as a late replacement. What & who goes down?
I pick Frazier. Obviously Shavers is dangerous, but even this past-prime version Frazier was difficult to hit hard for anybody not named Foreman. Also, Frazier can hurt Shavers at least as much as the other way around and after the early rounds (if it went that far) Shavers would be done while Frazier was just warming up. Frazier inside six
Could go either way. Logically you have to pick Frazier...if you have to pick...but Earnie could very well clean his clock in under 3 rounds. Frazier in 6 though sounds about right.
Frazier all the way. Obviously Shavers could hurt Joe (or anybody for that matter) but he isn't going to be stopping him.
To be quite honest with you, the only other two guys in history who I think had the capability of stopping Frazier early besides Foreman would be Tyson, and Lewis. Shavers was a puncher, but he was no finisher. He was basically a fuckin scrub with huge power. Frazier wins.
Frazier MIGHT Have a Hairy Moment or 2, but he WAXES Shavers Otherwise... For as BIG a Puncher as Shavers Was, his Punch Resistance was ALWAYS Suspect...Frazier KO 4 in a Fan Friendly, but Increasingly 1-Sided Brawl... REED:hammert:
Frazier kicks the dogshit out of Shavers, stopping him in three or four rounds after getting wobbled in the first
Frazier is the most underrated fighter on this site. At worst, half a dozen heavies in history clean him out and only half of those do it easily. Shavers is nowhere near the list. Frazier KO7 MTF
Holmes, with his size, reach and power, might also do for Joe. Might. Agreed with the other two you name. No other heavy in history in history has an easy time with Joe. MTF
Yeah, I dunno WHERE the Hell that came from! Ali in the early 70's easily had more pop than Holmes, and couldn't stop Frazier. I'm not sure if Holmes BEATS the 71 Frazier, let alone stops him.
I agree with UGO on this point. While it's true that Ali hit harder than given credit for, especially up to the first Norton fight at least, I don't think he hit any harder than Holmes. They had similar power.
Shavers might rock and/or drop Frazier early, but Frazier should stop him sometime after that. Frazier's toughness seems to get seriously underrated on most boxing forums I've seen. He was only dropped by two opponents and stopped by one in his entire career (by contrast, Ken Norton had previously been stopped by a natural LHW before fighting Shavers). He walked through fire from big punchers like Doug Jones, Manuel Ramos, and Quarry and stopped them. He deserves the benefit of the doubt not to simply fold against an otherwise limited puncher like Shavers.
I don't even think Frazier get hurts in this one. Shavers looping right hand wouldn't land cleanly cause of frazier constant bobing and weaving
