Earnie Shavers is one of the best heavyweights in boxing history to have not won a world title.
Recognised as one of the hardest punchers in the history of the sport, Shavers challenged for the world heavyweight championship on two occasions, facing Muhammad Ali in 1977 and Larry Holmes in 1979.
Out of the 76 victories he picked up during his 30-year professional career, he won 70 of those by knockout, retiring from the sport with a knockout rate of over 75%.
Despite facing a number of legendary heavyweights during his career, including the likes of Ali, Holmes and Ken Norton, there was one fighter that Shavers was glad he never ended up coming up against.
Speaking to Seconds Out, the ‘Black Destroyer’ revealed Mike Tyson as the one fighter he was happy to have not clashed with during his career.
“Mike was a great fighter during his era. Thank god he wasn’t in my era!”
Tyson is regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, having held the undisputed heavyweight championship for several years during the late 1980’s.
‘Iron’ Mike still holds the record of being the youngest world heavyweight champion in the history of the sport, after he knocked out Trevor Berbick in the 2nd-round of their contest in November 1986. He was just 20-years old at the time of capturing Berbick’s WBC heavyweight title.
The 58-year-old made a sensational return to boxing last November when he challenged YouTube sensation turned professional fighter Jake Paul in an eight-round bout at the AT&T Stadium in Texas. Tyson went the distance with the 27-year-old in the controversial showdown, falling short in a decision loss. He went on to announce his retirement from the sport shortly after.
