Just because one guy doesn't wnat to fight another guy, it doesn't necessarily mean he was scared of him or felt he wouldn't win. When fighting someone, a fighter has to weight out risk and reward. How much risk am I taking, and how much reward will I get if I win. With Earnie, because of his punching power anyone who fought him was taking a huge risk, but because of his known lack of chin/stamina, there wasn't enough reward to beat him to justify taking such a big risk.