Earnie Shavers almost beat Ali, unlike Foreman...

[AlexKid]

Earnie Shavers hits so hard he almost took Ali out, if it wasnt for Ali's deception (Waving Earnie fowards when he was staggering around punch drunk pretending he way playing around when he wasnt) then Earnie would likely have finished him!

George Foreman on the other hand unleashed with everything he had and Ali wasnt ever staggered once.

Is this a testament to Earnies punching power over Foremans?

[HaglerSteelChin]

Earnie Shavers hits so hard he almost took Ali out, if it wasnt for Ali's deception (Waving Earnie fowards when he was staggering around punch drunk pretending he way playing around when he wasnt) then Earnie would likely have finished him!

George Foreman on the other hand unleashed with everything he had and Ali wasnt ever staggered once.

Is this a testament to Earnies punching power over Foremans?

Well Ali himself said that Shavers was the opponent that hit him the hardest. He stated this during a famous interview with Arsenio Hall which also had Tyson and Leonard as guests. I saw that interview as a kid, and it is available in Youtube i believe.

As for the actual bout i had scored it a draw the last time i saw it which was like four years ago. ALi took plenty of punishment and i felt it should have been his last fight. It was about the same time that Dr. Ferdie Pacheco would leave Ali since he felt he should retire due to the slowing reflexes and overall body damage. Unfortunately, Ali would continue and we all know how that turned out. I know there are some who will say that the boxing had nothing to do with the Parkinsons, but those final years didn't help Ali at all.

[TBear]

Though I have tremendous respect for Shavers, the two fights came at different times in Ali's career. Between the Foreman fight and the Shavers fight Ali went through several wars like the Thrilla in Manila and the third Norton fight. He was at the point in his career that each fight was a battle and each fight took it's toll.

[rightsideup]

Ali was not the same after the thrilla in manilla

[Sugarj]

I personally do think that Shavers probably did have a slightly heavier right hand than George Foreman.

But its true; Ali in 1977 wasn't quite what he was in 1974, he had been very active and had taken alot of punishment.....he only had one win after Shavers too.

I will say that Ali's chin was still incredible in 1977, the shots he took from Shavers, particularly in round 2 were worrying. I can't however think of a moment when Foreman ever caught Ali with a shot of comparable quality. So its not so much a question of whether Shavers was that much more powerful, or whether Foreman simply didn't find quite as good a right hand in 1974.

Foreman certainly caught Ali with good shots to the head, just nothing quite as impressive or clean.