Earnie Shavers: Boxer who nearly killed Stallone at ‘Rocky’ audition dies

Passed away at the age of 78 the great boxer Earnie Shavers, who had twice faced Muhammad Ali while on the set of the movie “Rocky” nearly killed Sylvester Stallone from the force of his blows.

In accordance with deadline.com, the causes of death have not been clarified yet, while he reportedly died on Wednesday. At the same time, the same publication recorded the great career of Shavers and noted that he fought in 89 fights achieving 74 wins, of which 68 were by knockout, while he had 14 draws and only one loss.

In fact, he fought twice with Muhammad Ali for the title of heavyweight champion knowing the same number of defeats. The fight that took place at Madison Square Garden in 1977 went down in history for its cruelty. “Ernie hit me so hard it scared my relatives back in Africa,” Ali, who won by unanimous decision, said after the fight.

Then, the third time he claimed the title was against Larry Holmes in 1979 in a fight held in Las Vegas. Shavers lost by TKO while his opponent managed to stay standing despite taking his hard punches.

Meeting “Rocky Balboa”

Earnie Shavers in 1982 was seeing his career on the decline, according to the marca.com and so he agreed to audition for the role of Sylvester Stallone’s rival in the third Rocky film. During the shoot “Sly” asked Shavers to hit him with all his might. Then Shavers started hitting him with the left hand which was not his strong point.

In fact, the blows were so strong that Stallone went to the toilet and threw up. In the end, the role of Sylvester Stallone’s opponent was taken by “Mr T” who embodied the boxer “Clubber Lang”.