Once More, With Reeling

There were two main events, one of them shocking and the other suprising. In the first fight, Earnie Shavers , written off at the age of 34 and a 3-1 underdog, destroyed Ken Norton in just 118 seconds. The fans at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas and millions more watching on national television last Friday night had expected Gentle Ben. Instead, Shavers gave them Attila the Hun . That was the shocker; the surprise in the other fight was that it lasted so long.

When Shavers had finished his brief night's work, on came Larry Holmes , the WBC world heavyweight champion, to demonstrate the difference between an ambush and an execution. It was carefully planned and coldly carried out. For six rounds Holmes stalked his prey. In the seventh, he caught Ossie Ocasio and dismantled him.

Ocasio, the 23-year-old Puerto Rican challenger, was felled first by a numbing left jab. He got up, only to go down again under a straight right that could have been fired by Thor. A short right knocked him down yet a third time. He was game, if not wise. As Ocasio pulled himself upright once more, Richie Giachetti , Holmes ' trainer and manager, shouted at Referee Carlos Padilla, "For God's sake, stop it before Larry kills him."

Ignoring both Giachetti and humanitarianism, Padilla asked Ocasio if he wanted to surrender. Absolutely not. So Padilla turned and motioned Holmes forward. Shrugging, the champion came on without haste. He slammed home two right hands and then snapped a left hook to the jaw. With a great shudder, Ocasio crashed to the floor. Yet still once more, with an awesome show of will, he forced himself to his feet.

But by now even Padilla realized that the 10-1 underdog with only 13 pro fights had had enough. This time there was no count. "That's all," Padilla said. The end came at 2:38 of the round. "If Padilla hadn't stopped it—and if Ocasio had made it back to the corner—I was going to stop it myself," said Bill Daly , the 82-year-old fight manager who, as legend has it, discovered Ocasio working in a San Juan laundry two years ago.

If Padilla hadn't called a halt when he did, the only way Ocasio would have made it back to the corner would have been on a stretcher. As it was, the fight was permitted to continue two knockdowns too many. There was no excuse for letting the young and inexperienced Puerto Rican take that much punishment. He was being paid $250,000 to fight, not to be demolished.

Ken Norton , who was paid $750,000, was more fortunate. Mills Lane, who refereed that fight, is either a more cautious or a more compassionate man than Padilla. Few fighters have taken the beating Shavers laid on the former champion in just one minute and 58 seconds. Lane permitted Norton to get off the floor once. The second time he was knocked down, and somehow got up, Lane stopped it.

The Shavers victory was spectacularly unpredictable. Almost a year ago to the day, he had looked old and awkward and slow in losing a 12-round decision to Holmes . He was still ranked as the WBC's No. 2 contender, but that was mostly because the talent in the heavyweight ranks is painfully thin. When people spoke of the shaven-headed fighter, it was in the past tense.

But Shavers was hard and fit at 210 pounds ( Norton weighed 225) and he and trainer Frank Luca had mapped a strategy. It wasn't really complicated. "I'm going out and hit him on the head," Shavers said.

"And in the body," Luca said.