How Did You Score It RBR: Muhammad Ali vs Earnie Shavers

[Eff Pandas]

Sept. 29, 1977
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
http://boxrec.com/en/event/10399

"The Greatest" Muhammad Ali
(35yrs, 54-2, 37KO's, 225lbs)

vs

Earnie "Black Destroyer" Shavers
(32yrs, 54-5-1, 52KO's, 211 1/4lbs)



Feel free to copy/paste the scorecard below to score the fight rbr as you watch it.

Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Round 4:
Round 5:
Round 6:
Round 7:
Round 8:
Round 9:
Round 10:
Round 11:
Round 12:
Round 13:
Round 14:
Round 15:

Official Judges:

Johnny LoBianco/Ref MA 9-5-1
Eva Shain MA 9-6
Tony Castellano MA 9-6

[Eff Pandas]

Round 1: MA, MA 1-0, Pretty standard feel out rd, ES stalking the whole rd, but not having much success, MA throwing & landing more

Round 2: ES, Even 1-1, MA started off well, but got hurt & almost dropped towards the second half of the rd

Round 3: MA, MA 2-1, Uneventful rd, MA mostly sticking & moving early, ES has some moments later on, but overall MA in control & scoring

Round 4: ES, Even 2-2, ES landing the jab for most of the rd, MA just holding when he gets close, ES lands a couple nice hard shots in the last minute

Round 5: MA, MA 3-2, MA danced & jabbed this whole rd basically, easy rd for MA as ES just stalked MA the whole rd with a few punches thrown

Round 6: ES, Even 3-3, Not a lot going on this rd, MA basically conceded this rd with a lack of activity, not that ES was doing a whole lot either, but he was doing more

Round 7: ES, ES 4-3, Back & forth in this rd, ES started of well, MA landed a nice long multi punch flurry that had ES covering up, then ES ends it strong, the most contested rd of the fight up til this point

Round 8: ES, ES 5-3, MA does virtually nothing this rd, lays on the ropes + puts his glove on ES face + talks, pretty much all the punching this rd is ES

Round 9: ES, ES 6-3, MA does virtually nothing this rd too, he does land one nice lil flurry in there, but the rest of the rd is ES landing shots here & there, I gotta give the rd to consistecy with harder shots here, but close rd

Round 10: MA, ES 6-4, MA comes alive, all MA in this rd with ES having some small moments early, but otherwise very dominate MA rd

Round 11: MA, ES 6-5, Almost all MA this rd, ES lands a couple really good shots towards the end, but MA more effective overall

Round 12: MA, Even 6-6, MA more active & more effective, ES lands some good shots, but too infrequent with his offense

Round 13: ES, ES 7-6, MA dancing & jabbing early, but ES coming over the top with a lot of nice rights later that define this rd

Round 14: ES, ES 8-6, Big ES rd, ES landing a lot of good shots the whole way in this rd

Round 15: MA, ES 8-7, Looking like a big ES rd again early, but MA came on strong at the end & had ES hurt

[HOUDINI563]

I watched this bout live back in 77. Because of the controversy of Ali - Norton 3 the scorecards were revealed after every round. There really was no controversy regarding the decision. Shavers strategy was to hold back to conserve himself and then let it all hang out during the last 3-4 rounds. Unfortunately by the time he turned on the steam he was too far behind to get a decision win. I scored it 9-6 Ali. Ernie scored some big punches but was far too inactive to win many rounds over the first 12. It was 8-4 after 12. Shavers won 13 and 14 and nearly won the 15th but instead was on the verge of being stopped by the last rounds bell.

[Eff Pandas]

There really was no controversy regarding the decision.

I wouldn't say that.

Many in the crowd of 14,613 booed the decision of the officials.

[HOUDINI563]

Referee: Johnny LoBianco
9-5-1. Ali
Judge: Eva Shain
9-6. Ali
Judge: Tony Castellano
9-6. Ali
Unofficial AP scorecard:
10-5 Ali
Unofficial UPI scorecard:
8-6-1 Ali

Show all the unofficial scorecards that had Shavers the winner.

[Eff Pandas]

Referee: Johnny LoBianco
9-5-1. Ali
Judge: Eva Shain
9-6. Ali
Judge: Tony Castellano
9-6. Ali
Unofficial AP scorecard:
10-5 Ali
Unofficial UPI scorecard:
8-6-1 Ali

Show all the unofficial scorecards that had Shavers the winner.

The boos don't illustrate some people thought it was controversial lol?

And I've seen a lot of cards over the years of boxing fans who had that fight closer or had Shavers winning. This is one of the more talked about bad decision Ali fights by fans. Thats why I did a RBR of this fight cuz I wanted to reexamine the fight.

So I'd say it was controversial on that alone. I didn't know homework was gonna be required when the audience was booing the decision in the video I posted above doe.

[HOUDINI563]

In any championship decision fight fans of the loser boo. Are you serious?

I lived through that era and that fight. The result was not controversial.

Again....if it were controversial there would be many scorecards from that time that show Shavers winning. Please show these scorecards. Otherwise you have no ground to stand on.

As an example Ali-Norton was a controversial decision. This is exemplified by the many ringside scorecards that had Kenny winning.

[Eff Pandas]

In any championship decision fight fans of the loser boo. Are you serious?

I've seen a sh^t ton of fights. There was way above average booing of that decision then the average decision.

I lived through that era and that fight. The result was not controversial.

Then why were so many in the crowd booing?

Again....if it were controversial there would be many scorecards from that time that show Shavers winning. Please show these scorecards. Otherwise you have no ground to stand on.

Well the first scorecard I'll show you is my own above cuz I had it 8-7 Shavers.

I'm sure I can find more, but I'll do so at my leisure cuz I think you are being unreasonable if you can't see an argument for this fight being closer then it was scored by the official judges.

There were a lot of close rounds. Ali took off large portions of rounds & barely threw punches for damn near the full round a couple times. I had him conceding rounds to Shavers in 3 rounds do to not hardly doing anything. So Shavers just needed to win 5 of the 12 remaining rounds to have an argument to win & 4 of 12 to say it shoulda been closer then it was scored.

[Eff Pandas]

Well that was easy.

Here you go:

http://eyeonthering.com/boxing/muham...earnie-shavers

17 scorecards. 10 had Ali, 6 had Shavers & 1 had a draw. And 8 of the 10 who gave it to Ali had it 8-7 for Ali.

[HOUDINI563]

No. Your card does not count.

You are stating the decision was controversial. That would mean a good portion of the people at ringside scored the bout for Shavers. Show the scorecards that would illustrate that the bout was considered controversial.

The three official judges, AP, API, NY Daily News, all scored it for Ali. If I remember correctly RING and BI also had Ali winning. The lack of scorecards that had Shavers winning Illustrate it was not a controversial decision.