Muhammad Ali vs. Earnie Shavers


and Earnie Shavers fought each other in a fifteen-round boxing match on September 29, 1977. The fight went the full distance with Ali emerging the winner through a unanimous decision.

Background

Shaver's payday was ten times less than Ali's, totalling $300,000, nevertheless that sum was more than he earned during his entire career.

The fight

Ali was badly hurt in the second round, but by pretending to be even more hurt than he was, deceived Shavers into thinking he was play-acting resulting in Shavers not going for a knockout. By finishing each round strongly, Ali won favor with the judges. Shavers put up a strong performance in the 13th and 14th rounds, but Ali finished the 15th round very strongly nearly knocking down Shavers towards the end of the fight. Many experts regard Ali's performance in the Shavers fight to be one of the finest in his boxing career.
Commenting on this fight, Pat Putnam, long time boxing writer for Sports Illustrated, observed: