Heavyweight · Television Era (1960–1989)
Earnie Shavers
"The Black Destroyer"
74
Wins
14
Losses
1
Draws
68
KOs
92%
KO %
- Born
- 1944
- Died
- 2022
- Nationality
- USA
- Career
- 1969–1995
Often called the hardest-hitting heavyweight ever.
Titles & Honours
- Never won a world title
Career Timeline
1969–1995- Milestone
First recorded professional bout
vs Silas Howell · W TKO
- Milestone
25th recorded win
vs Willie Johnson · TKO. Newspaper decisions excluded.
- Milestone
50th recorded win
vs Tommy Howard · KO. Newspaper decisions excluded.
- Signature fight
vs Ken Norton
W KO · Las Vegas Hilton , Winchester, Nevada , U.S.. Archive selection: one of the first three wins over distinct fighters profiled here, not an expert-selected signature fight.
- Milestone
Latest recorded bout
vs Brian Yates · L KO. Not necessarily the retirement date.
Derived from the current archive and profile honours. Title-reign years are not exact bout dates; title claims are not independently verified. Signature fights use existing profile selections, or clearly labelled wins over other archived fighters when no selections exist. Year-only dates retain their original precision.
Photo Archive
1 archival photographs under their original licences.
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Fight-by-Fight Record
| Date | Result | Opponent | Method | Round | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969-11-06 | W | Silas Howell | TKO | 1 | Armory, Akron, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1969-11-11 | W | George Holden | KO | 1 | Sports Stadium , Orlando, Florida , U.S. |
| 1969-11-13 | L | Stan Johnson | UD | 4 | Ice Arena , Seattle, Washington , U.S. |
| 1969-11-21 | W | Lee Roy | KO | 3 | Municipal Auditorium, Rapid City, South Dakota , U.S. |
| 1969-12-04 | W | J. D. McCauley | KO | 2 | Armory, Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1969-12-18 | W | Chico Froncano | KO | 1 | Memorial Auditorium , Canton, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1969-12-23 | W | Gene Idelette | TKO | 2 | Sports Stadium, Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| 1970-01-07 | W | Abe Brown | TKO | 1 | Armory, Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-01-24 | W | Joe Byrd | TKO | 3 | Memorial Auditorium, Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-01-27 | W | Abe Brown | TKO | 5 | Sports Stadium, Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| 1970-03-10 | W | Art Miller | TKO | 1 | Moonlight Gardens Ballroom, Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-03-23 | W | Ron Asher | KO | 1 | Fitch High School Gym, Austintown, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1970-04-14 | W | Frank Smith | TKO | 4 | Moonlight Gardens Ballroom, Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-05-11 | L | Ron Stander | KO | 5 | Civic Auditorium , Omaha, Nebraska , U.S. |
| 1970-08-29 | W | Jim Daniels | KO | 1 | Fitch High School Gym, Austintown, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-09-12 | W | Don Branch | KO | 1 | Cooper Stadium , Columbus, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1970-10-14 | W | Johnny Hudgins | KO | 1 | Moonlight Gardens Ballroom, Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-11-18 | W | Johnny Mac | TKO | 4 | Fitch High School Gym, Austintown, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1970-12-07 | W | Bunky Akins | KO | 1 | Madison Square Garden , New York City, New York , U.S. |
| 1971-01-06 | W | Lee Estes | KO | 2 | Silver Slipper , Paradise, Nevada , U.S. |
| 1971-01-15 | W | Nat Shaver | KO | 1 | Convention Center , Miami Beach, Florida , U.S. |
| 1971-02-03 | W | Johnny Mac | KO | 3 | Silver Slipper, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1971-02-17 | W | Dick Gosha | TKO | 5 | Armory, Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1971-03-03 | W | Steve Carter | TKO | 1 | Silver Slipper, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1971-03-24 | W | Young Agabab | KO | 1 | Silver Slipper, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1971-04-21 | W | Mac Harrison | KO | 2 | Dean Chance Gymnasium, Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1971-04-24 | W | Willie Johnson | TKO | 4 | Curtis Hixon Hall , Tampa, Florida , U.S. |
| 1971-06-10 | W | Chuck Leslie | KO | 10 | Sahara Tahoe , Stateline, Nevada , U.S. |
| 1971-06-29 | W | Bill Hardney | KO | 1 | Western Reserve Field, Warren, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1971-07-13 | W | Bill McMurray | KO | 1 | Sahara Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1971-08-11 | W | Richard Pittman | KO | 1 | Silver Slipper, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1971-09-28 | W | Pat Duncan | KO | 5 | Primadonna , Reno, Nevada , U.S. |
| 1971-10-16 | W | Charlie Boston | KO | 2 | Dean Chance Gymnasium, Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1971-10-28 | W | Elmo Henderson | KO | 4 | Sahara Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1971-11-23 | W | Cleo Daniels | KO | 2 | Packard Music Hall, Warren, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1971-11-28 | W | Del Morris | KO | 3 | Bryant, South Dakota , U.S. |
| 1972-02-01 | W | Ted Gullick | KO | 6 | Packard Music Hall, Warren, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1972-02-15 | W | Elgie Walters | KO | 2 | Beaumont, Texas , U.S. |
| 1972-04-06 | W | Charley Polite | KO | 3 | Packard Music Hall, Warren, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1972-04-22 | W | Bob Felstein | TKO | 5 | Fieldhouse , Struthers, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1972-05-05 | W | Lou Bailey | KO | 2 | Armory, Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1972-08-26 | W | Vicente Rondón | UD | 10 | Memorial Auditorium, Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1972-09-19 | W | A J Staples | TKO | 1 | Moonlight Gardens Ballroom, Canton, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1972-10-25 | W | Leroy Caldwell | KO | 2 | High School Gym, Newton Falls, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1973-02-19 | W | Jimmy Young | TKO | 3 | Spectrum , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , U.S. |
| 1973-05-12 | W | Harold Carter | KO | 1 | Windsor Arena , Windsor, Ontario , Canada |
| 1973-06-18 | W | Jimmy Ellis | KO | 1 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1973-12-14 | L | Jerry Quarry | TKO | 1 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1974-05-16 | W | Roy Wallace | KO | 1 | Civic Auditorium , San Jose, California , U.S. |
| 1974-11-04 | L | Bob Stallings | UD | 10 | Felt Forum , New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1974-11-26 | D | Jimmy Young | SD | 10 | Capital Centre , Landover, Maryland , U.S. |
| 1975-02-11 | W | Leon Shaw | KO | 1 | Sports Stadium, Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
| 1975-04-09 | W | Rochell Norris | TKO | 10 | Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena , Binghamton, New York , U.S. |
| 1975-05-08 | W | Oliver Wright | TKO | 3 | Steelworkers Hall, Baltimore , Maryland, U.S. |
| 1975-09-13 | L | Ron Lyle | KO | 6 | Coliseum , Denver, Colorado , U.S. |
| 1975-11-13 | W | Tommy Howard | KO | 3 | Howard Johnson's, Monroeville, Pennsylvania , U.S. |
| 1976-03-28 | W | Henry Clark | PTS | 10 | Pavillon de Paris , Paris , France |
| 1976-09-28 | W | Henry Clark | TKO | 2 | Yankee Stadium , New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1976-12-11 | W | Roy Williams | KO | 10 | The Aladdin , Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1977-04-16 | W | Howard Smith | KO | 2 | The Aladdin, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1977-09-29 | L | Muhammad Ali | UD | 15 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| 1978-03-25 | L | Larry Holmes | UD | 12 | Caesars Palace , Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1978-07-20 | W | Harry Terrell | RTD | 1 | The Dome Civic Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia , U.S. |
| 1978-10-09 | W | John Girowski | KO | 4 | Coliseum , Hampton, Virginia , U.S. |
| 1978-12-04 | W | Harold Carter | KO | 3 | Civic Center , Saginaw, Michigan , U.S. |
| 1979-03-23 | W | Ken Norton | KO | 1 | Las Vegas Hilton , Winchester, Nevada , U.S. |
| 1979-05-25 | W | Eddie Parotte | TKO | 3 | Coliseum , Richfield, Ohio , U.S. |
| 1979-09-28 | L | Larry Holmes | TKO | 11 | Caesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1980-03-08 | L | Bernardo Mercado | TKO | 7 | The Great Gorge Playboy Club Hotel , Vernon Township, New Jersey , U.S. |
| 1980-06-14 | W | Leroy Boone | UD | 10 | Riverfront Coliseum , Cincinnati , Ohio, U.S. |
| 1980-08-02 | L | Randall Cobb | TKO | 8 | Joe Louis Arena , Detroit , Michigan, U.S. |
| 1980-10-17 | W | Ted Wadkins | TKO | 2 | Auditorium , West Palm Beach, Florida , U.S. |
| 1981-07-29 | W | Terry Mims | KO | 2 | Civic Center, Saginaw, Michigan, U.S. |
| 1981-09-09 | W | Mike Rodgers | KO | 2 | Civic Center , Lansing, Michigan , U.S. |
| 1981-12-11 | W | Jeff Sims | KO | 5 | Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, Nassau , Bahamas |
| 1982-04-22 | W | Ali Haakim | PTS | 10 | Grand Traverse Hilton, Traverse City, Michigan , U.S. |
| 1982-05-08 | W | Joe Bugner | TKO | 2 | Reunion Arena , Dallas , Texas, U.S. |
| 1982-05-15 | W | Danny Sutton | TKO | 7 | USS Yorktown (CV-10) , Charleston, South Carolina , U.S. |
| 1982-06-11 | L | James Tillis | UD | 10 | Caesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| 1982-06-22 | W | Billy Joe Thomas | KO | 5 | Astroarena , Houston , Texas, U.S. |
| 1982-08-17 | L | Walter Santemore | UD | 10 | Blackham Coliseum , Lafayette, Louisiana , U.S. |
| 1982-09-05 | W | Chuck Gardner | KO | 2 | Wales, Wisconsin , U.S. |
| 1982-10-14 | W | Phil Clinard | TKO | 2 | Duke's Country, Tulsa, Oklahoma , U.S. |
| 1982-11-05 | W | Tony Perea | RTD | 6 | El Paso, Texas , U.S. |
| 1982-12-13 | W | Al Jones | KO | 3 | Assembly Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma , U.S. |
| 1983-01-29 | W | Rahim Muhammad | PTS | 10 | El Paso, Texas, U.S. |
| 1983-02-18 | W | Phil Clinard | TKO | 5 | Municipal Auditorium, Pensacola , U.S. |
| 1983-03-01 | L | George Chaplin | DQ | 9 | Civic Center , Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| 1987-05-16 | W | Larry Sims | KO | 2 | Technical College Gymnasium, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| 1995-09-19 | W | Brian Morgan | MD | 8 | Georgetowne Club, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| 1995-11-24 | L | Brian Yates | KO | 2 | Ho-Chunk Casino , Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin , U.S. |
Showing 91 of 91 recorded fights · last updated 2026-10-15. Imported record tables are not independently verified and may be incomplete. Early-era logs include newspaper decisions (NWS), which are not counted in the official totals above.
Record notes
Fight record last retrieved: 2026-10-11. Title histories remain subject to archival review.
Historical-era totals differ between record-keeping conventions (newspaper decisions, exhibitions).
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