Shaver's Punching Power Is Completely Overrated.

[nomadman]

Exactly.

The main foundation of Shavers' supposedly out-of-the-world punching powers are quotes:

http://www.heavyweightblog.com/2318/...ed-featherfist

It's equally silly to say that Shavers was a featherfist, even if you were being hyperbolic to get an attention grabbing title. It makes any reasoned discussion of Shavers's punching power impossible because people are automatically put to extremes of opinion that they might never have held in the first place. And whilst stats can be useful, just like anything else taken in isolation, they don't tell the whole story. Shavers was by no stretch of the imagination a "featherfist." He rocked and knocked down too many good fighters, big fighters, to even make the claim that he was an average puncher. And when a guy like Foreman makes it clear that he was glad never to have fought him, that counts for a hell of lot too.

[etlux]

shavers could in theory have hit harder than alot of people pound for pound (he didn't weigh that much), but in TOTAL punching power both klitschkos easily hit harder than him. they are 240-250lbs and know how to use their leverage strength. and many other sincluding tua and tyson probably hit harder than him.

[nomadman]

shavers could in theory have hit harder than alot of people pound for pound (he didn't weigh that much), but in TOTAL punching power both klitschkos easily hit harder than him. they are 240-250lbs and know how to use their leverage strength. and many other sincluding tua and tyson probably hit harder than him.

Tua and Tyson definitely hit harder than Shavers IMO. There's too much video evidence to argue otherwise. Would say Wlad hits harder as well but not Vitali, not nowadays anyway. Shavers more or less got the maximum out of his body that he was capable of. Watch him throw a right hand and watch how he turns his shoulder over and gets his whole bodyweight into the shot. There's not much you can do to wring more power out of a shot thrown like that.



The only times Shavers's technique went to hell were when he got tired, which usually happened quite early in a fight if he didn't get his opponent out of there quick. Shavers was an all or nothing guy.

[Nate S.]

Shavers power was not overrated, he was however a very one-dimensional fighter and would be beaten easily by many names mentioned in this thread.

[nomadman]

Shavers power was not overrated, he was however a very one-dimensional fighter and would be beaten easily by many names mentioned in this thread.

If you claim him to be the hardest one punch puncher in boxing history then he certainly was.

[etlux]

guys just forget that Ali was prone to great hyperbole. Ali himself said that joe frazier was the greatest of all time, i.e. greatest fighter that ever lived, and other such hyperbolic inventions. Ali liked to entertain himself with such hyperbolic jests. Ali said in an interview that he'd never fight Mike Tyson, that he was afraid of him and that Tyson would knock him (Ali) out... as you can see Ali was actually overly generous and gave people credit they often didn't deserve. So when Ali said Shavers hit the hardest you have to take it with a grain of salt. Like I said many boxers go on wild hyperboles, George Foreman has stated that Lennox Lewis is the greatest fighter of all time (better than Ali) and Shannon Briggs said Vitali hits harder than Foreman and Lewis, etc, etc..........take these things with a grain of salt.

[kiDynamite92]

Tua and Tyson I could see an argument for but not really wladamir and definitely not vitali. Shavers does take a few shots to put the guy out completely buts that cause they usually cover up after tasting the leather once from a wild shot, where as wladamir usually works and then unloads cleaner shots. And don't bring that he doesn't load his punches fully BS, that's his own fault and shouldn't be used in arguments.

Briggs is talking cr@p too, you really think he would speak the truth after a beat down like that? He was just trying to make it sound like he still had something to give to boxing. Lewis TKO him and George went the distance and lost but really did he land as many punches as vitali did? No way! Briggs talks ****, to prove me point do you remember what he said the next day after saying vitali hits harder than foreman or Lewis? He made up an excuse saying he hurt his hand in the first round and if it wasnt for that he would have knocked vitali out, and then he said he wanted a rematch.

[Cutthroat]

Yeah Briggs is talking **** lmao. Lewis took a prime Briggs out in 5 rounds over 12 years ago when he actually had mobility and was in shape, meanwhile Vitali couldn't take him out in 12 rounds and Briggs is WAY past his prime, easily one of the most shot fighters I've ever seen in the history of boxing. Even in the Ibragimov fight which had taken place 3 years prior Briggs was already gassed in like the 3rd or 4th round of the fight despite only throwing around a total of 100 punches the entire 12 rounds, he was and has been grossly out of shape for a while.

[nomadman]

guys just forget that Ali was prone to great hyperbole. Ali himself said that joe frazier was the greatest of all time, i.e. greatest fighter that ever lived, and other such hyperbolic inventions. Ali liked to entertain himself with such hyperbolic jests. Ali said in an interview that he'd never fight Mike Tyson, that he was afraid of him and that Tyson would knock him (Ali) out... as you can see Ali was actually overly generous and gave people credit they often didn't deserve. So when Ali said Shavers hit the hardest you have to take it with a grain of salt. Like I said many boxers go on wild hyperboles, George Foreman has stated that Lennox Lewis is the greatest fighter of all time (better than Ali) and Shannon Briggs said Vitali hits harder than Foreman and Lewis, etc, etc..........take these things with a grain of salt.

Precisely. With Shavers there almost seemed to grow up a tradition of fighters saying outrageous things about his power, the more outrageous the better. With guys like Berbick and Holmes you can obviously tell they're having a laugh. No doubt there was a grain of perceived truth behind what they said, but the fact remains that they tasted his power and survived. Now go find me a quote of Ruiz and Moorer talking about Tua's power; I doubt either man can remember the week in which they fought him, let alone the fights themselves.




Though Foreman was right about Lennox

[TheGreatA]

It's equally silly to say that Shavers was a featherfist, even if you were being hyperbolic to get an attention grabbing title. It makes any reasoned discussion of Shavers's punching power impossible because people are automatically put to extremes of opinion that they might never have held in the first place. And whilst stats can be useful, just like anything else taken in isolation, they don't tell the whole story. Shavers was by no stretch of the imagination a "featherfist." He rocked and knocked down too many good fighters, big fighters, to even make the claim that he was an average puncher. And when a guy like Foreman makes it clear that he was glad never to have fought him, that counts for a hell of lot too.

I'd say that it's absolutely ridiculous and implausible to say that Shavers was a "feather-fist" while it's arguable whether he was the hardest puncher of all time or not. But he was definitely one of them.