Earnie Dee Shaver was born on August 31, 1944 in Garland, Alabama . He did not start boxing until he was 22, and had a short amateur career, winning the 1969 National AAU heavyweight title.
Shavers won 44 of his first 47 fights by knockout. After hiring Don King as his promoter, he began to climb the heavyweight rankings. He defeated Jimmy Young, and came to prominence with a first round KO of ex-champ Jimmy Ellis on June 18, 1973. His progress was halted with a knockout loss to Jerry Quarry in December of that same year, but returned to action in 1974.
He won most of his fights, except a knockout loss to Ron Lyle in September of 1975. Five consecutive victories after that earned him a shot at the title with Muhammad Ali on September 29, 1977 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Despite a great performance in which he badly hurt Ali, he lost a 15 round decision.
That was followed by another loss six months later to top contender Larry Holmes via a 12 round decision. He fought Holmes again in September of 1979 when Larry was now the champion. He knocked him down with a thunderous right hand in the seventh round that badly hurt Holmes. The champion regained his senses, fought bravely, and stopped Earnie in the eleventh.
Shavers fought on for another four years, but never got another title shot. He retired from boxing with the reputation of being one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history, and one that always made for exciting fights. He passed away on September 1st, 2022 at age 78.
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