Earnie Shavers vs. Rochelle Norris ~ April 9, 1975

[Bill Paxtom]

Actually,

Rochelle Norris had sparred with Earnie in late-1974, and handled himself quite well.

The Norris Camp felt that this bout was a 'risk' worth taking in April 1975.

Rochelle, at 6' 1" and 208 lbs., was solidly built and was regarded as a prospect
to be reckoned with.

Rochelle, had never gone past 8-Rounds before, and this would be his '1st' 10-Rounder.

[Bill Paxtom]

Prior to this bout.

Things had not particularly gone well for Earnie.

In August 1973, he had his 'jaw' dislocated by Jeff 'Candy Slim' Merrit in
a Cleveland sparring session, which put him out of action for 4-Months.

Then on December 14, 1973, he got 'cold-cocked' in the 1st Round by Jerry Quarry
at Madison Square Garden.

Then, Earnie took 6-Months off, before returning on May 16, 1974, to starch {KO 1}
cannon-fodder/trial-horse Roy 'Cookie' Wallace in San Jose.

Then there was another 5 1/2 month lay-off.

Earnie returned to New York again, and on November 4, 1974 - he took on light-punching
trial-horse Bob Stallings. Earnie punched himself out and was 'gassed' by the 5th Round,
and was eventually floored and nearly KO'd by Stallings who went on to win an upset
10-Round Decision.

3-Weeks later, Earnie was back in the Ring at the Spectrum in Philadelphai to take on
crafty Jimmy Young. Again Earnie started off fast, but as usual he gassed out. Earnie then
barely hung on to hold Jimmy Young to a 10-Round Draw.

In his only 1975 bout {February 11th}, Earnie flattened {KO 1} Florida Heavyweight -
Leon 'The Shadow' Shaw in Orlando, Florida.

[Bill Paxtom]

The Bout

Opening Round >

Earnie {208 lbs.} came out looking to bomb as usual.

But Rochelle {206 lbs.} used good movement, and circled to his right and kept away from
Earnie's right-hand bombs.

By Round 3, Earnie was having difficlty trapping 'The Roach', as he kept circling around
Earnie's left side.

Rochelle was effective in staying away from Earnie.

But, the 3400 fans at the Broome County Arena got somewhat unhappy due to the lack
of action, as Rochelle was content to move while Earnie slowly stalked.

The same lack-of-action continued in Round 4, and there were boo's rumbling in the crowd.

In Round 5, Earnie threw his hands up in the air in frustration, and waved Rochelle to move
in and trade.

In Round 6, there was some minor action as both exchanged. Earnie got the better of the
punches, and Rochelle tied him up each time that Earnie landed a decent punch.

Rochelle got the crowd up and cheering in Round 7, when he came out winging. Early in
the Round he tagged Earnie with a 'left-right', and then landed a crisp right-hand to Earnie's
left-eye.

Earnie got 'ruffled a bit', and came back with a few hard punches that had Rochelle backing
away by the {1:00 Mark}.

But the action settled down, and Rochelle went back to moving and poking out a few light
left-jabs. Just before the Bell, Earnie landed a good right-hand to Rochelle's left cheek.

Earnie came out for Round 8 with a puffy left-eye. Rochelle was sporting a bruised left cheek,
courtesy of an Shavers right-hand.

During the early part of Round 8, Earnie slammed in a few hard shots, and Rochelle foolishly
went to the Ropes.

Earnie then came in, and pinned Rochelle on the Ropes with an assortment of straight punches.
But they were mostly arm-punches.

At the end of Round 8, both fighters looked a little weary.

Both fighters were slow during the early action in Round 9. But, just past the {1:20 Mark},
Earnie landed a 'right-hand' to Rochelles head, and he wobbled backwards. It was the 1st-time
in the bout that he was hurt.

Earnie came in winging, and caught Rochelle with a 'left-right/right-left' to the head, and
followed up with a hard left to the body. Rochelle went down and took a knee at the {1:30 Mark}.

Rochelle smartly took the '8-Count' on his right-knee, and got up. The action resumed, but
Rochelle was smart, and as Earnie came in Rochelle tied him up immediately.

Earnie tried to break free, but Rochelle was tight with his grip. After the clinch, Rochelle
moved quickly as Earnie stalked. Rochelle did a good job of moving for the next Minute.

Rochelle had cleared the cob-webs, and looked like he was about to make it out of the Round.
But just before the Bell at the {2:57 Mark}, Earnie caught Rochelle with a big 'left-hook' on the
chin.

Rochelle then wobbled back into the Ropes as the bell sounded ending Round 9.

Coming out for Round 10, Rochelle still looked 'groggy'.

Earnie, sensing that Rochelle was 'out-of-it', stormed ahead and unloaded. Less than 20-Seconds
into the Round, Rochelle was dumped on the canvas and flat on his back.

Rochelle rolled over, but could not beat the count by the Referee.

KO @ 0:30 of Round 10.