Earnie Shavers might have been the best heavyweight who never won a title, but Roy Williams might well have been one of the best fighters nobody ever heard of?
?I wouldn?t drive through Philadelphia because I didn?t want to take a chance on running into Williams??Earnie Shavers
?Williams was from Philadelphia, and our fight, man, it was life and death for both of us. They called and asked me to fight him twice, and I said ?keep it.? I fought him in Las Vegas. It was a 10-round war, back and forth. In the last nine minutes, I was in trouble. I knew he was a tough guy, an ex-sparring partner. To this day, I don?t know how I won this fight?I had to feed my family.??Shavers
?Pay up motherfucker.??Williams to Ali for sparring money in Zaire
I saw the fight between Roy Williams and Earnie Shavers on television on December 11, 1976. It took place at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas, and they almost pulled a Heidi. Thankfully I was able to see this bout to its amazing conclusion. I just got through watching the video again and still marvel at what I witnessed. Hell, I thought I had seen just about everything. But I?m getting ahead of myself.
Roy ?Tiger? Williams was a classic Philadelphia fighter except for one thing. Most of his wars were fought in the gym and Roy was known throughout the boxing world as the toughest gym fighter around and someone you might want to spare with to prepare for a rough fight. In Zaire, for example, Ali sparred for weeks with big Roy and told the media, maybe to hype things up, that Williams was bigger, stronger, tougher, and hit harder than Foreman.
Roy was both big (6?5?), weighed around 240, and extremely scary looking. He towered and glowered and according to Ali, had ?sledge-hammer fists.? He also had great ring perspicacity, deceptive hand speed, threw punches in combinations, and possessed a short and deadly left hook that he launched with incredible speed. To make scary matters even scarier, he made a loud grunting sound every time he threw a punch.
Big Roy was known as a very moody, temperamental person and much of this may have had to do with the reported treatment he received from Ali. It was rumored that Ali abused him physically in sparring and verbally in camp. Williams also thought Ali owed him money and that he and Ali sparred 10 rounds two days in a row, with both trying to hurt the other to settle the matter. In the end, Ali paid the Tiger what the he wanted. At any rate, Roy was feared or avoided by most of the fighters of his era. Perhaps with better handling and management he could have been a top contender or beyond. Though he haunted the gyms, he did have a stamina problem that probably could be traced to poor conditioning.
According to Larry Holmes, Williams, who was not in the business to make friends, was bitter and nasty about not getting any breaks and being overlooked for title fights and the attendant money. There is one story that Holmes tells about going to watch Williams fight, on a rare occasion when somebody agreed to fight him. Holmes was ringside, cheering on the man he had spent a couple of years with in training camp, and during a clinch Williams turned to Holmes and said from the ring: ?Shut the fuck up.?
Known as the ?Black Destroyer? and later (thanks to Ali) ?The Acorn,? Shavers compiled a record built on consecutive stretches of brutal knockout victories, most of which happened inside the first few rounds.
The following quote from Earnie Shavers book, ?Facing Ali,? attests to Roy?s reputation: ?Ali had a sparring partner named Roy ?Tiger? Williams. He said, ?If you beat Tiger Williams, I?ll give you a shot.? I knew Tiger Williams. He was a tough, tough guy. So I made my mind up I would knock this guy out??
And that brings us to December 11, 1976 at the Aladdin.
The Fight
The bell rang and Earnie started strong hitting Roy with some of his patented bombs but the Tiger was going nowhere. He had never been stopped, but he had never faced a fighter with Shaver?s one-punch power. The fight progressed through ebb and flow with most of it going Ernie?s way, but an ever-so-subtle change occurred around the 8th round as Shavers began to tire and the Tiger began to snap his punches off with more authority grunting with each punch?uhuu, uhuu, uhuu.. Shavers had built up his upper body with weights and commentator Jerry Quarry sagely suggested such a technique could tighten up Earnie?s muscles and tire him out.
In any event, the Tiger was beginning to roar. The ninth round saw a big change both ways. The Tiger started strong and landed a number of solid shots. He seemed in charge but then tired himself midway through the round and Ernie came on bombing away. Roy had to hold on and regroup. With about a minute to go, the moment happened. Roy snapped off one of the hardest left hooks I have ever seen and staggered Earnie who was now in big trouble. After some follow-up shots, Shavers looked ready to go as Tiger mixed short left hooks with two or three short right leads on top of Shaver?s shaven head. Earnie had no answer and likely was saved by the bell. He staggered back to his corner. The crowd, which included Joe Louis, was up and screaming; they were anticipating the kill. Clearly, this was the Tiger?s time to roar.
The last round began and Shavers came out visibly exhausted while Williams appeared confident and ready to end matters, finally emerging as a serious heavyweight contender. He quickly moved Earnie into a corner and applied brutal, nonstop punishment until Referee Buddy Basilico called a standing 8-count. Tiger thought the fight had been stopped, turned around and raised his hands in victory but when he turned back to see a determined Shavers still standing, his spirit visibly sagged. Still, he came on and hit Shavers with blows that would surely have knocked out anyone else.
But then Earnie started to connect with some medium hard blows to Roy?s body which slowed him down. All of a sudden, Earnie connected with one of his deadly uppercuts with Tiger on the ropes and it straightened him up. The Tiger was now hurt and Earnie sensed it. Now it was his turn to bully the Tiger into a corner and begin throwing his own bombs. Roy could not withstand the ferocious onslaught and Referee Basilico gave him a standing eight, the second in the round but to two different fighters. Earnie stood poised, albeit exhausted, and ready to continue. As the ref ordered Roy to begin fighting he took a step forward, hesitated, and then collapsed in the corner a beaten man. Earnie sagged over the ropes too tired to celebrate. The fight was over. Earnie had won, but the Tiger had indeed roared.
As Shavers would later say, ?I trained hard. The first eight rounds, I was ahead on points. He came back in the ninth and the beginning of the tenth, and damned near destroyed me. But I knew I had to win for the Ali fight. They gave me a standing eight count, asked me questions, asked my name, where I was fighting, who I was fighting? I said Las Vegas, Earnie Shavers, Roy Williams. So I knew then, I had to go on the chin and stop him. He came forward toward me and I stepped in and hit him on the chin and I hurt him. And that?s when God gave me the strength, and I stopped him.?
Roy would close out his career with seven straight wins, six by KO. His final record was a decent 30-6. Among his opponents were the capable Harold Carter, Larry Holmes, Jimmy Young, Jeff Merritt, Bob Stallings, and Henry Clark. I believe he now lives in Las Vegas though rumors abound as to what happened to him after he retired from boxing.
Shavers, of course, got his fight with Ali and God knows he earned it. He would finish with a marvelous record of 74 wins (an astounding 68 by KO), 14 losses and one draw. To this day, he still regards Roy ?Tiger? Williams as his toughest opponent.
Ernie Shavers might have been the best heavyweight who never won a title, but Roy Williams might well have been one of the best fighters nobody ever heard of.
