Muhammad Ali survived Earnie Shavers’ crushing right hands and produced a fierce final-round rally to retain his undisputed heavyweight championship at Madison Square Garden on September 29, 1977. At 35, Ali still had the courage to answer a dangerous challenger, but the punishment raised an increasingly urgent question about how much longer he should fight.
This was Ali’s tenth successful defense since beating George Foreman in 1974. Shavers entered with 52 knockouts in 54 victories, bringing the kind of power that made every defensive mistake dangerous. Ali’s legs and reflexes no longer offered the protection they once had.
The danger became clear in the second round when Shavers hurt him with a heavy right. Ali responded with exaggerated staggering and gestures, making it difficult for the challenger to distinguish genuine distress from another performance. Shavers hesitated, and Ali survived.
Ali worked behind his jab, rationed his movement and picked moments to throw combinations. He still produced flashes of his earlier brilliance, but sustaining that pace was another matter. Experience helped him accumulate rounds while Shavers kept searching for the punch that would end his reign.
The challenger’s expected collapse never arrived. Shavers pressed harder in the 13th and 14th, landing rights that left Ali struggling. Yet Angelo Dundee knew from NBC’s televised scoring that his fighter already held an unbeatable lead on the cards if he remained upright. He kept that information from Ali to prevent a letdown.
“I never told Ali he was ahead. I didn’t want him to let down,” Dundee told the Associated Press afterward.
The 15th supplied the fight’s lasting image. Shavers attacked, but Ali found enough strength to answer with a rapid closing flurry that nearly dropped the challenger. After absorbing so much punishment, the champion finished throwing.
Referee Johnny LoBianco scored it 9-5-1 for Ali. Judges Tony Castellano and Eva Shain each returned 9-6 cards. The Associated Press also favored Ali, 10-5, giving contemporary support to the verdict despite the debate surrounding it.
Victory did little to quiet concerns about Ali’s decline. His longtime physician, Ferdie Pacheco, urged retirement and left the team when Ali continued. Shavers had shown how vulnerable the champion had become.
Ali lost his next fight to Leon Spinks, then regained a title in their rematch. The Shavers bout remains a remarkable display of endurance, with an uncomfortable cost attached: Ali’s ability to withstand punishment kept extending a career that increasingly depended on it.
