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The legend of Muhammad Ali indirectly made it to Columbiana County along the way.
Earnie Shavers, a Newton Falls High School graduate, trained for his Sept. 29, 1977 fight against the heavyweight champion of the world at Turkana Farm in Calcutta.
Shavers started his training camp there at the start of August. He told the Morning Journal at the time that it was a great place to mentally prepare for the fight.
“It’s very beautiful. You can get a lot of thinking done,” Shavers said.
Shavers admitted he would have to rely on more than his raw punching power (many considered him to be the hardest puncher ever) to defeat the cunning of Ali.
“Right now I’m the hardest puncher in the game,” Shavers said. “But, I’m not going to try to knock him out. I’m going to concentrate on the body. He’s 36-years-old. He’s getting up in years. I figure he’s fought a little beyond his time.”
Shavers did perform fairly well at the fight at Madison Square Garden. He landed many hard blows and wobbled Ali several times in the fight, but Ali was called ‘The Greatest’ for a reason.
Shavers might have been a tad early in his premonition that Ali was too old. Ali rallied late in the bout to retain the title.
Following the fight there were calls by Ali’s doctor for the champ to retire though. The doctor claimed he had a report saying Ali’s kidneys were falling apart. The doctor quit when his warnings were not heeded.
Ali lost the title against Leon Spinx in 1978 but won it for the third time in a rematch shortly thereafter. That was his last win. He retired for a short time, but came back for two more fights in which he lost. He retired for good in 1981.
The impact of the Shavers’ fight never left Ali.
He later called Shavers the hardest puncher he ever faced saying “Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk back in Africa.”
Shavers’ boxing career ended with a 74-14-1 record in 1995.