This year of 2025 marks the anniversary of numerous big, memorable, and important fights: Barrera-Morales I, 25 years old. Benn-McClellan, 30 years old. Chavez-Taylor, 35 years old. Hagler-Hearns, 40 years old. And Ali Frazier III, 50 years old this year.
That, right there, is a whole lot of awesome boxing action that truly and absolutely deserves to be remembered, and will be remembered by all the fight fans that care about the past, and how important it is in regards to the future.
Another epic, somewhat forgotten – and poorly filmed – heavyweight classic will celebrate its 50th anniversary later this year. No world title was on the line, no major TV network covered the fight, and no articles, let alone books, were written about the fight. But the savage, back and forth battle heavyweight contenders Ron Lyle and Earnie Shavers engaged in in September of 1975 absolutely deserves to be remembered. Indeed, this one had to be filed in a bloody, X-Rated closet all of its own, surely.
But, as boxing fan ‘Rich the fight Historian’ lets us know in another of his superb videos, this fight, one that took place in Lyle’s hometown of Denver, was an old-fashioned, it-took-place-in-a-bearpit, almost fight to the end encounter. And it was one that had no major media coverage.
Shavers was 31 years old, and he was 49-4-1, with all but three of his wins coming by KO. Lyle, three years the older man, was 30-3-1, with 21 of his wins coming inside the distance.
The FIGHT took place at the Coliseum in Denver on September 13 of ’75, and those fans who were there witnessed a classic. While some of those fans that were there got involved!
As Rich the Historian points out in his video:
“It’s almost a miracle that the film of the Ron Lyle-Earnie Shavers fight exists,” Rich says in his video. “It wasn’t on TV, no announcers, no polished production. Just a man with a camera, perched somewhere in the stands. The only reason we have this fight on film is because someone in Lyle’s camp knew this one needed to be captured on camera. If they hadn’t, we’d be left trying to piece it together from the old boxing magazines.”
Indeed.
But we do have grainy, some would say tough to watch footage of the carnage that took place when Lyle and Shavers went at it almost a full 50 years ago. And, boy, do we owe that cameraman a huge debt of thanks for filming what he filmed that day!
Lyle and Shavers gave their all over the course of six sick rounds, with the violence, and the ability, no, the willingness to lay it all on the line, this in a fight, where both men knew only one fighter would walk out of the ring, being truly shocking.
5,000 Lyle fans were on hand to see, they hoped, a KO win from their hero. Shavers, who had already begun to forge his rep as one of the hardest-hitting big men ever, had the smell of a knockout win on his mind.
The two men didn’t come out blazing in a Hagler-Hearns manner, but the hot-blooded violence sure enough developed. Shavers was the early aggressor, while Lyle circled and then went to the ropes. In round two, Lyle was made to pay for his rope-a-dope attempts, such as they might have been. Shavers got home with a left hand bomb, and Lyle hit down, his body almost folded. The bell came before Shavers could inflict even more damage and hurt.
The war raged on, with Lyle shoving Shavers back in a defiant move in round three. It was savage stuff, as Shavers again backed Lyle to the ropes. Already, after just three rounds, this fight had proven to be a hectic battle. The two men slugged it out toe-to-toe, with Lyle seeming to find respite on the ropes, with him actually giving about as good as he got. Then, some zealous Lyle fans, who had forced their way to the inner ringside spot, went wild. One fan even reached through the ropes and seemed to try and grab at Lyle’s leg.
It was out of control stuff, from all angles. It was a street fight.
By round six, Shavers was fatigued in a bad way, and he was now standing in front of Lyle. Lyle saw the end and he got it, his monster of a right hand sending Shavers into another world of hurt. Lyle unloaded, going for the finish, and he got it. Shavers, helpless on the ropes, took multiple shots before finally falling, this in almost slow-mo fashion.
Lyle’s stare, inflicted on a done in Shavers, was captured on camera, and it tells the story. Both fighters had given their all, and there could be only one winner. On this day, it was Ron Lyle. Any other day, it could so easily have been Earnie Shavers.
Lyle is best remembered for his sizzling, back and forth war with George Foreman, while Shavers is perhaps best known for his epic fights with Ali and Holmes. But together, in September of 1975, Lyle and Shavers gave us a raw, savage, and so utterly violent fight. One that could so easily have vanished without a trace…….
