Earnie Shavers hit Muhammad Ali harder than Joe Frazier and George Foreman, battered Larry Holmes before Mike Tyson and KO’d Ken Norton
Like Romans at the Coliseum, boxing fans have always flocked to stadiums or television screens across the globe in search of the fabled knockout.
It can take as little as just 5 pounds per square inch to render a human being unconscious, but the blows dealt out in boxing's blue ribbon division are far more debilitating.
Debates have and will always continue to rage as to who the greatest heavyweight of all time is, with the question also often being asked as to who the hardest puncher is.
Former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is widely regarded as the heaviest hitter in the current crop of heavyweights, but his status as the most powerful puncher in history is often met with scepticism.
Earnie Shavers may not be the most glamorous fighter the heavyweight division has ever seen, nor did his egregious style win him many fans.
“Not one of the hardest—the number one. I think I’m ahead of them all.
“Joe Frazier wouldn’t fight me. George Foreman and Frazier both told me so, they said, ‘Hey, you hit too damn hard.’ George turned me down. Joe Frazier told me point blank, ‘No way, Earnie.’”
Shavers never won a world heavyweight title but he certainly made his mark on the boxing world.