Never got to meet the late Shavers, who sadly expired yesterday--much less dodge a phony punch by him! But I recall crystal-clearly at this moment, four decades after I last watched one of his televised bouts, precisely how his (for my money) greatest-power-punch-yet would land.

And it's one of the few times I actually found it scary seeing a boxer ply his injurious trade. But it was ALSO glorious to watch (as long as his opponent merely lost the match, not his wits much less his life).

Offhand, I can only think of one famous boxer I've met--the most famous of ALL, arguably.

That is, I once managed to position myself so as to meet and even hang for a while with the late Ali [ne' Clay, natch] outside on the east plaza of the Los Angeles Sports Arena [where the final, gold-medal boxing bouts were staged] on the final weekend of the 1984 Summer Olympics. And THAT of course was a thrill indeed.

ESPECIALLY so, inasmuch as THAT happened no more than eight or nine minutes after I had ALSO by chance met and walked alongside the late Howard Cosell for a good while (with his unlit cigar in [right-]hand, rather complicating our parting handshake) and THEN, maybe 50 seconds later, unexpectedly crossing paths with the not-in the-LEAST-late Don King*, whilst HE was heading toward a long line of awaiting limousines.

King was characteristically yukking it up big-time--somewhat muttering, actually--as he closed in on all the lengthy autos; when he got there, try as he might, he couldn't figure out which lined-up limo among the dozen or so queued was reserved for him. Several times he quite jocularly (and quite loudly) wondered "Where is my Bud limo?" or "Where BE that Bud limo?!?" (Well, it WAS I gathered, a pricey King's perk whose tab was picked up by good ol' Anheuser-Busch/St. Louis.) King's entire entourage that eve numbered about eight or nine; pretty sure I was the sole white guy in that ad-hoc gregarious group trying to I-D the correct stretch. When King and his trailing posse finally found the right car, he started waving his arms and bellowed for all within earshot a FOR THE AGES** quote as all his pals piled in: "Free at last! Free at last! Praise G-d Almighty, I am free at LAST!!....EVERYBODY into the Bud limo!" ***

As for Shavers: sure wish the ever-earnest Earnie had never shaved his head; simply DETEST that look. And I've often wondered if, given the chance, I would have traded my subsequent, quite serious encounter with Ali for even a few minutes with my absolute fave boxer ever, the great (if not "The Greatest"), late Shavers.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
-------------------------------------
* My all-time fave King quote is his response to a reporter wondering what keeps his unique coif so erect: "It's the power of G-d !"
** Paraphrasing ANOTHER voluble fellow named King [the late MLK Jr.], whom in turn had famously copied--actually, PLAGIARIZED--two lengthy passages in the dissertation for his doctorate...a Doctor of Divinity degree therefore MOSTLY earned (but somewhat faked) at my alma mater, Boston University.
*** Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know: sure sounds like Styble is hallucinating again! EXCEPT THAT that night--Saturday, August 11, 1984, roughly 10:40-11:15 pm--I had my pocket recorder rolling (just as I have had during WAY TOO FEW of my many--only thus far, I trust?--face-to-face opportunities 1975-2005 to speak with that singer/songwriter/mystic fellow who SO allegedly "JUST CAN'T SING!"). And as you might imagine, I proudly played a copy of that ultimately-and-unfortunately-dumpstered-in-Seattle-2009 Cosell/King/Ali tape for MANY visiting pals over the years, EVERY one of whom was as amused by all this famous-folk-folderol as was the journalist/broadcaster/sneak who TAPED it all that simply wondrous Olympiad night it happened.
==========================================https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnie_Shavers

radioacti...@gmail.com <radioactiveseattle@gmail.com> wrote:
> Never got to meet the late Shavers, who sadly expired yesterday--much less dodge a phony punch by him! But I recall crystal-clearly at this moment, four decades after I last watched one of his televised bouts, precisely how his (for my money) greatest-power-punch-yet would land.
>
> And it's one of the few times I actually found it scary seeing a boxer ply his injurious trade. But it was ALSO glorious to watch (as long as his opponent merely lost the match, not his wits much less his life).
>
> Offhand, I can only think of one famous boxer I've met--the most famous of ALL, arguably.
>
> That is, I once managed to position myself so as to meet and even hang for a while with the late Ali [ne' Clay, natch] outside on the east plaza of the Los Angeles Sports Arena [where the final, gold-medal boxing bouts were staged] on the final weekend of the 1984 Summer Olympics. And THAT of course was a thrill indeed.
>
> ESPECIALLY so, inasmuch as THAT happened no more than eight or nine minutes after I had ALSO by chance met and walked alongside the late Howard Cosell for a good while (with his unlit cigar in [right-]hand, rather complicating our parting handshake) and THEN, maybe 50 seconds later, unexpectedly crossing paths with the not-in the-LEAST-late Don King*, whilst HE was heading toward a long line of awaiting limousines.
>
> King was characteristically yukking it up big-time--somewhat muttering, actually--as he closed in on all the lengthy autos; when he got there, try as he might, he couldn't figure out which lined-up limo among the dozen or so queued was reserved for him. Several times he quite jocularly (and quite loudly) wondered "Where is my Bud limo?" or "Where BE that Bud limo?!?" (Well, it WAS I gathered, a pricey King's perk whose tab was picked up by good ol' Anheuser-Busch/St. Louis.) King's entire entourage that eve numbered about eight or nine; pretty sure I was the sole white guy in that ad-hoc gregarious group trying to I-D the correct stretch. When King and his trailing posse finally found the right car, he started waving his arms and bellowed for all within earshot a FOR THE AGES** quote as all his pals piled in: "Free at last! Free at last! Praise G-d Almighty, I am free at LAST!!...EVERYBODY into the Bud limo!" ***
>
> As for Shavers: sure wish the ever-earnest Earnie had never shaved his head; simply DETEST that look. And I've often wondered if, given the chance, I would have traded my subsequent, quite serious encounter with Ali for even a few minutes with my absolute fave boxer ever, the great (if not "The Greatest"), late Shavers.
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
> -------------------------------------
> * My all-time fave King quote is his response to a reporter wondering what keeps his unique coif so erect: "It's the power of G-d !"

Does King actually engage in the affectation of treating the typical English word for the monotheist Almighty as specifically translating the
only one of the numerous Hebrew names thus translated that is considered too holy to speak?

> ** Paraphrasing ANOTHER voluble fellow named King [the late MLK Jr.], whom in turn had famously copied--actually, PLAGIARIZED--two lengthy passages in the dissertation for his doctorate...a Doctor of Divinity degree therefore
> MOSTLY earned (but somewhat faked) at my alma mater, Boston University.

Incidentally,the two lieutenant generals currently holding the position of Deputy Chief of Space Operations (to be distinguished from the
full general serving as Vice Chief of Space Operations) both were in the Air Force ROTC Class of 1991 at Boston University...one has been
nominated to become the next CSO and the other is retiring.

> ===========================================
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnie_Shavers

-=-=-
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at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.