A Wisp of the Wizard A Look Back at Ali-Shavers and the Classical 15 Round Era

By Michael Swann

The Seventies were, without doubt, the preeminent decade in the long, distinguished chronicles of Boxing’s Heavyweight Division. Champions such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes would have defeated, or at least been competitive with any fighter of any era. Second tier contenders Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, and Earnie Shavers gave the first tier fits while carving out their own place in history. All of the men were elevated to even greater stature by their epic battles with each other.

During the first phase of Ali’s career, he was an Olympic Gold Medalist in 1960, turning pro the same year. By his 20th fight, February 25, 1964, at age 22, as Cassius Clay, he took the heavyweight crown from a demoralized Sonny Liston, the “Big Ugly Bear,” who sat forlornly on his stool contemplating his beating to the upstart 8-1 underdog.

Despite his ring brilliance and natural charisma, Ali’s popularity was non-existent, except as a guilty pleasure. To some, it was his lack of humility, to others it was his conversion from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, embracing the Black Muslim faith. Later, his position against the Vietnam War, and subsequent “perceived Draft Dodger” status made him a pariah in the sport of boxing, resulting in his title being removed, and his boxing license revoked in 1967.

The first edition Ali was fleet of foot with blazing hand speed. (Some would say that his hands were so fast that they never saw the punch that knocked out Liston in their second fight.) In addition, he had instinctive radar that picked up incoming punches in time to pull his head back, avoiding the blow. His defense, with a stiff left jab firing out of an 80-inch reach, set up his combinations, always to the head of the opponent. That Ali, this fast, controversial headhunting champion who ran up a 29-0 record with 23 knockouts, was unquestionably the greatest of all time, just as he claimed at every opportunity.

When he returned from a 3½ year exile in October 1970, a new Ali emerged. This second coming showed some erosion of skills, most particularly in his ability to avoid punches. But Ali, and the boxing public, finally found the answer as to whether he could take a punch. He absorbed pain better than any fighter before or since, a trait that served him well in the ring, though probably not out of it. The new Ali was a warrior, courageous to a fault, and engaged in a much higher level of competition than the Ali of the Sixties.

The political climate was also changing. Many Americans were tired of the long war; those that supported the war didn’t understand our reluctance to win it. The Supreme Court overturned Ali’s conviction for refusing the draft 9-0. Even the Black Muslims seemed tame in comparison to Black militant groups such as the Black Panthers.
Out of the ashes, Ali became an icon—not of boxing, not of sport, but of culture. He lost a brutal, exciting decision to Joe Frazier on the third fight of his comeback, sending Frazier to the hospital for two weeks. He lost a split decision to Ken Norton after suffering a broken jaw in the second round.

Ali won rematches with Frazier and Norton, setting up a 1974 title fight with George Foreman on October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire. That fight, billed the “Rumble in the Jungle,” is remembered for the “rope-a-dope,” with Foreman pounding away at Ali, lying on the ropes until he knocked out the arm-weary Foreman in the eighth round. In reality, there was more, much more.

Ali psyched out George from the beginning, whispering in his ear to infuriate him, then ripping right leads to George’s head. Ali leaned on the loose ropes, counter punching with right hands and combinations, as Foreman flailed away at his gloves, arms, and hips. Despite the fact that Ali absorbed punishment, he never let it show, while Ali’s punches continually appeared to shake the supposedly invincible Foreman. With each round, Ali looked more like a champion, and Foreman seemed to be an amateur. Ali used a recipe of psyche’, fast hands, loose ropes, and courage to steal the title.
A year and three fights later, on October 1, 1975, Ali and Frazier had the rubber match of the greatest trilogy of fights in the history of the sport. That fight, “The Thrilla in Manila,” was a pitched battle with both men absorbing brutal punishment.
Ali seemed to have lost the lateral movement that he displayed 20 months previously in Ali-Frazier II. In that fight, Ali beat Frazier more convincingly than most people remember, using fast legs and a death grip on Joe’s neck whenever he came close to a win a 12 round decision.

In Manila, thought to be finished by the Ali camp, Frazier patiently overcame his typical slow start, pounding Ali’s arms and body with impunity in the middle rounds. This fight was close after 10 rounds, with Ali stretched out in his corner as if he were on a recliner, rather than a stool.

Some scribes have claimed that Ali was prepared to pack it in at that point. With his courage and pride, that is highly doubtful. For somehow, Ali dug deep into his inner recesses and forged a heroic comeback, winning the 12th, 13th, and 14th rounds big.
Meanwhile, Frazier had his own problems. Already suffering from an increasingly worsening cataract in his left eye that he had had for years, both of his eyes were virtually closed from Ali’s head shots. Frazier never seemed to cut in his fights; he simply wore golf ball-sized bumps on his face as his warrior’s badge of honor.
Blind and bleeding from the mouth in the 13th, Joe took a right hand that sent his mouthpiece sailing across the ring into the VIP section. By the 14th, Ali landed right hands at will to a Frazier fighting in an upright position. Frazier’s trainer, Eddie Futch, called for a mercy stoppage over Joe’s valiant protests to protect his fighter from permanent damage.

There might be a philosophical question as to who, if anyone, suffered permanent damage. Neither fighter was ever the same again. In a perfect world, both men should have retired after engaging in what many boxing historians consider the greatest fight of all time. Frazier returned nine months later with a shaved head and lateral movement, only to be KO’d and sent to retirement in a rematch with George Foreman in five. Ali was back in the ring in four and a half months.
Ali was on his way to being marketed much like Frank Sinatra in his final days when, in his eighties, he was trotted out to perform years after he could remember the lyrics. Ali, like Sinatra, was an icon whose presence on stage meant serious bank for all concerned.

The plan was to serve up some lucrative cream puffs to Ali to keep that money train rolling. Then he would fight Ken Norton, another easy fight, and retire. The strategy seemed well founded after Ali knocked out Jean-Pierre Coopman in five.
His second fight of 1976 came two months later against Jimmy Young. An out-of-shape Ali came in at 230 pounds, apparently taking the team “cream puff” too literally. Young was ranked #3 by Ring Magazine, yet was considered merely a tune-up for the mega-rich rubber match with Ken Norton.

Young was not a big puncher, but he was quick and elusive, and was just reaching his peak as a fighter. During the late Seventies, he was competitive with anyone, beating Foreman, and losing a close split decision to Norton, before spending the Eighties under-trained and overweight.

This writer was ringside for that fight and came away with two observations: 1) it seemed as if Young was out landing Ali two to one, and, 2) Young’s head appeared to spend a great deal of time outside of the ropes, almost bonding with us at ringside.
The result was a controversial unanimous decision for Ali. If ever there was a case of a challenger having to decisively take a champion’s belt, this was it. And, if that champion was Ali, who was bigger than boxing, you needed more than a light punch, defensive brilliance, and a head outside of the ring ropes. At the end of the 15th round, Young’s corner erupted in joy, thinking, along with much of the crowd that the title was about to change hands. However, the judges correctly interpreted “effective aggressiveness” to mean that you had to fight with 100% of your body in the ring.
The critics were temporarily pacified three weeks later when Ali traveled to Munich, Germany, to stop Richard Dunn in five rounds. No one could have suspected at the time that the non-threatening Dunn would be the final knockout of Ali’s career.
A month later, June 25, 1976, he was in Tokyo for an exhibition against the Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. Ali was given two million reasons to participate in this embarrassment. That seemed on the surface to be more than adequate compensation for throwing six punches in the 15 round draw, but Inoki spent the fight on his back trying to kick Ali’s legs. The result was ruptured blood vessels in Ali’s million dollar legs.

Finally, the long anticipated third fight with Ken Norton took place on September 9, 1976, in Yankee Stadium. The two had exchanged 12-round split decisions in 1973, with Norton breaking Ali’s jaw in the first fight (in the 2nd according to Ali, the 12th according to Norton), and Ali winning the second with his speed and a big 12th round.
Norton was a very good, though probably not great fighter whose main claim to fame was that he had Ali’s number. Up until he fought Ali in March, 1973, he had fought but three times out of the state of California. After his close rematch loss to Ali, he was blasted out in two by George Foreman, and later in his career he was dispatched in the first round by Earnie Shavers and Gerry Cooney. However, he did hold knockout victories over Jerry Quarry, Boone Kirkman, Ron Stander, Larry Middleton, and Duane Bobick, in addition to a split decision victory over Jimmy Young, and an exciting split decision loss to Larry Holmes, losing the WBC heavyweight title that he had been awarded almost two and a half months previously.

The Ali-Norton trilogy should never be confused with the Ali-Frazier battles of attrition. The drama in the former was primarily in how to score the rounds; in the latter, there was non-stop intensity for 41 rounds, creating a human drama that seemed as if life itself hung in the balance.

In Ali-Norton 3, Norton jumped to an early lead against the flat-footed Ali. In the later rounds, Ali began to dance and use his left jab, slowly getting back into the fight, making it even after 14 rounds. Norton’s corner, thinking that he was ahead on points (a poor assumption in an Ali fight), told Norton to be careful in the 15th, and not to chance a cut, or getting hurt, provoking a stoppage. Ali won the final round and the unanimous decision.

The fight was close, and difficult to score. It could have been 8 rounds to 7 either way, or it could have been 7-7-1. Coupled with the Young decision, the result was highly controversial, so much so that a major network replayed the fight with a panel of judges scoring each round. They decided that it was a draw.

Ali won the 12th round of their second fight to win, and the 15th to retain his title in the third. He rode his demonstrably slower and weakened legs to victory. In that third fight, Ali demonstrated yet another characteristic—competitive courage. Norton had to live with the fact that he followed poor advice from his brain trust.

While keeping his accountant busy with the purses from these fights, his diminishing skill level was being exposed. Having lost his ability to dodge punches, he was taking heavy shots. He showed virtually no power after the last Frazier fight. He could still score with his hand speed, but not for a full round. His leg speed had been limited to spot use. At this point, his main attributes were the ability to take a punch and a heart the size of Louisville.

Ali won a unanimous, uneventful 15-round decision over Alfredo Evangelista in May, 1977, and signed to fight Earnie Shavers at Madison Square Gardens on September 29, 1977.

Shavers entered every fight with a “punchers chance” because, along with Foreman, he was the most devastating puncher of his era. He entered the fight with the highest knockout percentage in boxing history (.962), and his list of first round knockout victims included Jimmy Young, Jimmy Ellis, and Ken Norton.

Though Shavers would probably be dominant in the Heavyweight Division of the last 15 years, he was a flawed fighter who was, oh so close, but yet so far in the heavyweight glory days of the Seventies. He suffered knockout losses to Ron Stander, Jerry Quarry, Ron Lyle,and Larry Holmes in the Seventies, and Bernardo Mercado and Tex Cobb in 1980, so it’s fair to say that he could be hit and hurt.

Shavers began his amateur career at the age of 22. By contrast, Ali began fighting at 12, and was heavyweight champ at 22. His pro career started at the comparatively late age of 25. He was hampered by inexperienced, inept, or insufferable, management, first by Blackie Gennaro and Dean Chance (the still-active former CY Young Award winner), and then later Don King, who apparently offered Chance a deal he couldn’t refuse.

One would think that someone, anyone, should have seen that a late blooming fighter with that much power and potential, needed to be taught fundamentals and defense. But it never happened, and it plagued him in big fights throughout his career. He was sent out to land that big right hand, the earlier the better, seemingly without a contingency plan to box if the fight went into the late rounds. Usually, it didn’t matter; Shavers had never been past ten, and had only gone past six on seven occasions.
It was clear that his best strategy would be to catch Ali early and jump all over him, and also pound away when Ali went to the ropes. The rope-a-dope really victimized only one fighter, and Ali used it mainly to rest. A smart fighter, such as Frazier proved that if you land short, hard punches to Ali’s arms early, he’ll eventually drop his hands, leaving his head open for power punches.

On September 29, 1977, at Madison Square Gardens, Ali made his entrance to the ring, literally in the spotlight, to the theme of Star Wars. He did his usual shtick, pointing his right eye at Shavers, as he curled his lip, and mouthed words of impending disaster for his opponent. He appeared to be more mirthful than menacing.
The referee, Johnny LoBianco, and the two judges, Eva Shain (the first woman to judge a heavyweight title fight), and Tony Castellano, were introduced. Their role was of additional import because NBC decided to show the official scorecards round by round. This gimmick was undoubtedly inspired by the close decisions in Ali’s fights with Young and Norton.

Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, was practically salivating at the opportunity this presented. He had the matchmaker watch the fight on a television provided in the dressing room, and forward the results to him after they were flashed on the screen. By contrast, Shavers’ handlers saw the television in their dressing room but didn’t see the significance.

The fighters were introduced with Ali receiving a huge ovation, and then went to the center of the ring for LoBianco’s instructions. Ali, who had dubbed Shavers “the Acorn” for his shaved head, playfully rubbed the top of Shavers’ head as he delivered his usual pre-fight psyche speech.

The champion, at 35 was two years older than the challenger, yet was perceived as much older because of his years in the limelight, and the number of tough bouts that he had fought. But there also was a sense that the public at large had failed to recognize Ali’s fading skills, and expected an easy victory for the champion.
What they saw instead was a classic, but anything but easy:

Round One – Ali came out flatfooted, flinching a stiff left jab to Shavers’ face, threw a few combinations that mostly landed on Shavers’ gloves. Shavers’ right hands were missing short, but did land some jabs toward the end of the round. All three judges scored for Ali.

Round Two – Ali flicked out a several good left jabs, then wasted combinations caught by Shavers’ gloves off the ropes. Shavers landed a big right that Ali shook off as he played to the crowd. With a minute left in the round, Shavers landed a tremendous right that wobbled Ali, and sent him backwards on buckled legs. The champion bought some recovery time, wiggling his legs and waving Shavers in. The challenger, apparently thinking that Ali was playing possum, hesitated briefly before resuming the attack, landing four more heavy right hands before the end of the round. All three judges scored for Shavers.

Round Three – Ali began the round on his toes, dancing and jabbing, then went to the ropes. When Shavers backed away to the center of the ring, Ali went into his “Russian tank” routine, sort of a middle of the ring rope-a-dope with his gloves protecting his face. All three judges scored for Ali.

Round Four – Ali jabs, and Shavers landed some heavy body shots. Shavers landed a good right, and Ali shook his head. Shavers landed a good right before the bell. Referee LoBianco gave the round to Ali, the two Judges scored for Shavers.

Round Five – Vintage Ali, moving well, and jabbing effectively, scoring combinations at the bell. All three judges scored for Ali.

Round Six – Ali tries to dance, but seems tired, going to the ropes frequently. Whenever Shavers had Ali on the ropes, he backed up to the center of the ring. The crowd boos in the rest round for Ali. All three judges saw the round for Shavers.

Round Seven – Shavers lands a short right. Ali measures Shavers with his left, then broke open a good flurry of punches. Shavers landed a grazing right, and another drives the champion to a neutral corner. Ali places his gloves on the ring ropes as Shavers retreated almost to the opposite corner. Referee LoBianco and Judge Castellano scored for Ali; Judge Shain saw it for Shavers.

Round Eight – A tired Ali rests on the ropes, as Shavers appears ineffective inside.A quick combination by Ali to gets him off the ropes. Crowd boos the boring round. A defiant Ali raises his hands to the surly crowd. Referee LoBianco and Judge Castellano gave the round to Shavers. Judge Shain scored for Ali.

Round Nine – Lethargic Ali paws his glove in Shavers’ face. As Ali moves to the ropes, Shavers retreats to the other side of the ring. Ali suddenly opens up with a good flurry, then rubs Shavers head with his gloves at the end of the round. The referee saw the round even, the judges scored for Ali.

Round Ten – Shavers lands a short right, as Ali moves and lands. Shavers lands a right on the ropes;the jab was working for Ali. Champ lands a good left hook combination that slows Shavers. Ali lands a pair of rights at the bell. All three judges scored for Ali.

Round Eleven – Ali begins moving and jabbing. Shavers is throwing short. Shavers lands a pair of rights after an Ali combination. Ali closes the last thirty seconds with a good hook, uppercut, two combinations and an effective jab. All three cards go to Ali.

Round Twelve – Ali moving and sticking, Shavers has a cut on his nose. Ali goes to corner and Shavers retreats across the ring again. Shavers pins Ali in neutral corner and backs off after landing to body. Ali closes the round strongly with a right followed by good combinations inside the final ten seconds. All three judges score for Ali.

Round Thirteen – Ali bucked by a vicious right, buckling his knees. Shavers slow to follow. Ali begins moving and is caught with a right over his left. Shavers lands a tremendous right in Ali’s corner. Ali dances out of trouble. All three cards for Shavers.

Round Fourteen – Ali moving and landing a good combination Shavers trails Ali who is dancing. Ali slips in corner trying to move away from the stalking Shavers. Good exchange in Ali’s corner as Shavers gets best of Ali. Ali is hurt by Shavers right in final seconds of round. Shavers slow to follow up his advantage as Ali seems to be playacting. Shavers pounding away at the bell as Ali holds on. All three cards to Shavers.

Round Fifteen – Shavers opens with two good rights. Ali tries to fight his way off ropes. Shavers lands two good rights, and a right-left power combination. The fighters go toe to toe. Shavers bulls Ali to ropes, and they exchange good rights, the men exchanging punches across the ring. Ali sent backward by Shavers right. The final two minutes Ali hurts Shavers, banging away with everything he had. Shavers barely survives the final seconds. Exciting round.

Both judges scored 9-6 for Ali. The referee saw it 9-5-1. It seemed closer, probably 8-7 Ali with the last minute flurry. The crowd booed the decision, captivated by Shavers’ powerful right hands and aggressiveness. That logic would probably have had some merit if Shavers had jumped on Ali when he hurt him, and worked Ali’s body on the ropes. It could well be said in a close, difficult fight to score, the margin of difference was that the television was on in Ali’s dressing room, and not in Shavers.

Another reason for Ali’s victory was star power. His long time greatness mesmerized judges, fans, and it appears in this case, the opponent also. Everyone was so busy watching his diminishing bag of tricks that they seemed to be unable to focus on the big picture. The judges noted Ali’s flashy combinations and stiff left jabs, even the ones blocked by the challenger’s gloves. The fans were happy to be in the presence of greatness, with Ali serving up leg and hand speed in one minute increments, with a side order of showmanship. As for Shavers, he allowed Ali to buy time when he tried to figure out if the champ was playing possum when hurt, and bought into the con that the rope-a-dope was an offensive weapon.

For Shavers, it was a missed opportunity. Ali lost the belt in his next fight, to Leon Spinks in his eighth pro fight. Ali won the rematch, the last victory of his career as facts unfolded, and that was the least of his problems.

Ali’s post fight physical examination was so horrible that the New York State Athletic Commission refused to license him for future fights. Ali’s doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, left his corner after 15 years because, as a man of integrity, he refused to sanction permanent injury to the man whose ability and courage he so admired. The “fight doctor,” as he was known, wrote later that, “there was blood in his urine, he was certainly already neurologically damaged, he couldn’t walk without shuffling a little bit, he was certainly mumbling and stumbling.”

Shavers lost his next fight, a 12-round decision to Larry Holmes in a WBC title eliminator. He then ran off five straight knockouts, including a one-round demolition of Ken Norton, to set up one last title opportunity against Holmes. On September 28, 1979, the star crossed Shavers floored Holmes in the seventh with one of those big overhand rights before being TKO’d in the eleventh. He fought on, mostly as an “opponent” until 1983. He had one fight in 1987, a first-round knockout victory and even made a brief ill-fated comeback in 1995.

After he defeated Spinks to become the first man to hold the heavyweight championship three times, Ali finally retired. Driven by his ego and eight million dollars, Ali was coaxed back into the ring to challenge Larry Holmes in Las Vegas on October 2, 1980. He lost weight, looked fit, colored the gray out of his hair, and convinced himself and much of the boxing public that the magician had one more card up his sleeve. He didn’t. Probably one of the saddest, if not criminal, pictures in American sport is that of Ali sitting on the stool at the end of the tenth round, beaten and dazed, unable to come out for the eleventh round.

Before the last black billows of stench had escaped the Vegas skyline, Ali became convinced that his loss was due to his taking diuretics to lose weight. Unable to find a site that would license him, he went to Nassau to fight future champion Trevor Borbick on December 11, 1981.

The fight was billed as the “Drama in the Bahamas,” a second rate promotion that had to employ a cowbell in lieu of a missing ring bell. In spite of his detectable slurred speech, slow gait, and appalling deterioration of skill, the fight was not the slam-dunk for Borbick that it was perceived. It was actually a close, hard to score fight, the kind that Ali was winning just after the mid-seventies. Perhaps, the judges found a way to finally stop the madness.

Michael Swann can be reached at mswann@15rounds.com