Earnie Shavers – August 31, 1944

“Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk back in Africa” – Muhammed Ali

Earnie Dee Shaver (The Black Destroyer) was born in Garland, Alabama, to Willie Bell (Herbert) and Curtis Shavers. He twice fought for the heavyweight championship.

The 1950 Census for Garland, Alabama, has Curtis and Willie living on Mount Olive West Road with 9 children ranging from newborn to 12 years old. Curtis is a farmer, as is everyone else on the two pages of the census. Curtis and Willie were both born in Alabama, the same as everyone else on the two pages.

Later life

Shavers started boxing as an amateur when he was 22. He won the National AAU title in 1969. In the late 1960’s he worked in a General Motors factory.

Turning pro, he won 44 of his first 47 bouts by knockout. He began to rise in the rankings after hiring Don King to be his manager, picking up wins over future heavyweight champion contender Jimmy Young, and future champ Jimmy Ellis.

His 5 biggest fights were:

• Ron Lyle. This was a vicious slugfest, with Lyle going down for the first time in his career in the second round, but getting up to put Shavers on his face in round 6.
• Muhammed Ali, for the title. Shavers hurt Ali badly in the second round and again in the 14th, but Ali, on the defensive most of the fight, ended most rounds strongly, impressing the judges. Ali won the fight by unanimous decision. Ali’s fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco quit working in Ali’s corner after the fight when he told Ali he should retire and Ali refused.
• Larry Holmes. Shaver (#3 contender) fought Holmes (#4) in an elimination bout to face champion Ken Norton. Holmes won a unanimous decision.
• Ken Norton. Shavers knocked out former champion Norton in the first round, earning a fight with champion Larry Holmes.
• Larry Holmes (2) for the title. Shavers knocked Holmes down in the 7th but lost on a TKO when the referee stopped the fight in the 11th. Holmes said the knockdown was the hardest hit he had ever taken.

Shavers continued fighting for several years, fighting opponents such as Joe Bugner and Tex Cobb, but a retinal injury effectively put an end to his career. Like most fighters, he had a failed comeback or two.

He became an ordained minister and for a while was pastor of a church in England, where he made several appearances on the Benny Hill show.

He worked as a sparring partner for Sylvester Stallone who was filming Rocky 3. He wouldn’t hit Stallone hard until Stallone insisted. Shavers hit him once near the liver. Stallone said, “That nearly killed me. I went straight to the men’s room and threw up”.

Ernie Shavers Died on September 1, 2022.

Other Happenings on August 31, 1944:

• Red Army enters Bucharest (Romania), which was already freed from German troops by the Romanian Army.
• The 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front entered Bucharest.
• The Battle of Sansapor ended in an American victory.
• King George VI made Bernard Montgomery a field marshal.
• The U.S. Fifth Army crossed the Arno in Italy.
• In the Raid at Ožbalt, 105 Allied prisoners of war were rescued by Slovene partisans from a work site in the village of Ožbalt, Reichsgau Steiermark.
• The first of the mysterious Mad Gasser of Mattoon incidents occurred in Mattoon, Illinois. They would end two weeks later as mysteriously as they began.
• Born: Jos LeDuc, professional wrestler, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (d. 1999).

Tomorrow – A Real Operator

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Sources

• Wikipedia.org
• Ancestry.com
• Onthisday.com
• Picryl.com
• Youtube.com