Hands Like Howitzers

The autobiography of heavyweight boxer Earnie Shavers whose bout with Muhammad Ali in Madison Square Garden took the champ to the limit.

The “Black Destroyer” Earnie Shavers pulls no punches in sharing his eventful life story, from a run-in with the Ku Klux Klan as a child and championship bouts with Larry Holmes and Muhammad Ali, to his retirement from the ring as the undisputed “hardest puncher” in professional boxing.

Growing up in the Cleveland area, young Earnie hung out with thugs and killers, nearly becoming one himself, until sixty-five seconds changed his life: that’s how long it took him to knock out his first opponent in the ring.

Ten years later, with dozens of knockouts to his credit, and after a contentious break-up with notorious boxing manager Don King, Earnie made it to the top: a fight with Muhammad Ali in Madison Square Garden for the championship of the world.

With talent, hard work, and eventually God in his corner, Earnie Shavers lived the American dream from bell to bell, and came out the other side with a helluva story to tell.