File photo from 12-09-15...Boxing legend Earnie Shavers signs autographs at a Warren Rotary meeting on Dec. 9, 2015...by R. Michael Semple

Earnie Shavers, who grew up in Braceville and fought for the heavyweight boxing championship twice in the 1970s, has died at age 78.

Shavers’ funeral is planned for Warren in mid-September, The Associated Press is reporting.

Former British boxer and close friend Kenny Rainford told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Liverpool, England, that his close friend died on Thursday in Virginia at the home of one of his daughters.

It was one day after Shavers’ birthday. A cause of death was not released.

“He had a hard career, traveled a lot and slowed down all the sudden,” said Rainford when asked about the cause of death.

Rainford said a funeral is planned for Sept. 17 in Warren. Shavers was born in Garland, Alabama, in 1944 and grew up in the Mahoning Valley. He didn’t take up boxing until he was 22.

The boxer graduated from Newton Falls High School, but for a long time made his home in Las Vegas.

Shavers was known as a hard puncher, and gave heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes all they wanted during title fights in the late 1970s.

After their fight, Ali talked about Shavers’ punch: “Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa.”

Shavers finished his career with a record of 74-14-1 and 68 knockouts. His last fight was in 1995 at age 51.

Shavers lost the fight to Ali by unanimous decision in September 1977 at Madison Square Garden in a fight for the WBC and WBA world heavyweight titles. Ali pulled out the victory with a strong rally in the 15th round.

In March 1979, Shavers beat Ken Norton by knockout in the first round, in what was considered one of his finest victories.

Shavers later faced Larry Holmes for the WBC heavyweight title in September 1979 in Las Vegas. Holmes won the bout by TKO in the bout stopped in the 11th round. Shavers did knock Holmes to the canvas in the seventh round.

Holmes had worked with Shavers in Cleveland at an event run by promoter Don King.

“He was one of the hardest punchers in boxing,” Holmes said of Shavers in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

Shavers had surgery for a detached retina after the Holmes fight and was stopped by Randall “Tex” Cobb in the eighth round the following year. In 1982 he fought Joe Bugner, also on the comeback trail. Bugner was knocked down in the first, and was stopped by cuts in the second round.

Shavers continued to fight professionally for several years, but never fought for a title again. He was named among the top-10 punchers in boxing history by The Ring and others.

Before turning professional, he won the 1969 National AAU heavyweight title.

Minister Robert Saffold, Warren Councilwoman Cheryl Saffold’s father, on Friday said he was Shavers’ first amateur boxing trainer at the Rebecca Williams Community Center in Warren.

Saffold recalled Shavers saying he started boxing around the same time as another Valley boxing legend, the late Clifford Randy Stephens. Both went on to become champions.

“Earnie without a doubt is my most prolific and significant fighter,” Robert Saffold said.

Cheryl Saffold said as a child, she and her brother attended all of Shavers’ matches when he was a Golden Glove boxer.

“We were very, very young, so he was our boxing hero,” Cheryl Saffold said. She said Shavers remained a close family friend and called to check on her mother over the years.

In their 1979 title fight, Shavers knocked down champion Larry Holmes before Holmes rallied and beat him in the 11th round.

Ali gave Shavers the nickname “The Acorn” because of his shaved head.

Shavers came back to his hometown in December 2015, showing a keen sense of humor while speaking to a meeting of the Warren Rotary Club at Enzo’s Restaurant.

At the time, the then-72 year-old claimed he was in “perfect health.”

“When you’re a puncher, no one wants to get close to you,” he said to laughter from the packed house.

He said he never held any animosity toward his boxing rivals.

“They’re all good friends of mine. They paid my bills.”

Shavers pointed out he never smoked, drank or used drugs, but confessed to a vice — black walnut ice cream.

When Muhammad Ali died in 2016, Shavers told the newspaper the two of them became friends after their 1977 fight at Madison Square Garden and remained close throughout Ali’s battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Shavers had said he signed a pair of gloves for Ali just a little over a month before the champ died.

“I loved the guy. He was good to me.”

Shavers was married to Laverne Payne. They had five daughters from their marriage together: Tamara, Cynthia, Catherine, Carla, and Amy. He also has four daughters from other relationships: Catherine, Lisa, Natasha and Latonya. He worked at the Lordstown General Motors plant in the late 1960s.

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