It's easier to get hurt when you're tired. Mexicans while not athletic commonly have endless pools of stamina
Good to have some Chin Talk on here. This is ESB. We talk Chins. And yes, I do think there is a Mental aspect to it. I have heard fighters like LaMotta, Chuvalo, Hagler, and Aaron Pryor discuss this. You can't train a Chin and Defense also has nothing to do with it. Every Chin has a 'Shattering Point' some like LaMotta, Chuvalo, Hagler, Vitali Klitschko etc. it is a '10' as in that their Chins simply can't be Shattered. A guy like Margarito would be an '8' or so. Roy Jones has a Shattering Point of about '2'. Amir Khan would be a '1' or maybe some would argue a '0' Shattering Points is a very interesting topic one that I plan to bring upo more on here.
McCullough and Margarito both had small traps, and neither had thick heads. Margarito had an especially elongated, thin skill, but could take all kinds of punishment. Rios as pointed out, very thin neck, average size head at best, all three guys granite chinned. Chuvalo may have the best chin of all time, so good call. Dude fought all kinds of amazing punchers, and never tasted canvas. Vitali and McCall top out the top three heavyweight chins in my opinion. I think Margarito is a 10 chin, 9 minimum. 95% (atleast) of guys would have been KTFO in Cotto 1, and Pacquaio matches Margarito was involved in. Yes, he was KO'ed in the Mosely fight, but he had just been caught cheating, and I think his will was completely broken. Even with that fact, he took incredible shots from a VERY hard puncher who was literally almost knocking his block off for 8 rounds straight. Mosely was literally sitting down on nearly every power punch and slamming his head back 3 to 4 times in a row consistently. Most guys would have lasted MAYBE 2-3 rounds of taking that abuse, he showed an incredible chin even getting knocked out. Logically I'd think so too, but I don't see any consistencies in the criteria. There are granite chinned fighters with large necks and small necks, thick skulls and thin skulls, large legs, small legs etc etc.
It has to do with genetics. Some of it has to do with hard work. (IE Timothy Bradley). Some of it has to do with very subtle things such as keeping your chin tucked at all times. (IE Bernard Hopkins)
Right, obviously not getting hit is the best scenario, but when talking chins, we are talking about the ability to absorb punishment. We are discussing when these guys do get hit, what makes some be able to eat bombs all night, while others go lights out from one or two decent shots? Speaking of which, Hopkins has shown to have a great chin. Rarely is caught, but when he is, seems to have a VERY solid chin.
I'd have to imagine a lot of it has to do with genetics. A lot of it I would imagine has to do with the space between your brain and your cranium.. which in reality, you can't do anything about, other than stay hydrated. (Hence why some brutal knockouts happen to people who dehydrate themselves to make weight and fail to put the weight back on sufficiently). Leading to brain bleed in severe cases, due to dehydration. (Some of my fellow countrymen has suffered brain bleed due to dehydration, Kranjc and Roberto)
In that case, having a smaller brain would be very beneficial :yep The dehydration thing is without a doubt though, I've heard your cerebral fluid is among the slowest to rehydrate when you're drained and trying to put back on the weight, but I don't know for a fact if that's true, although it makes sense. Makes you wonder how many less fighters would wind up with brain damage if people had to fight in their natural weight classes? Meaning weigh in an hour before the fight or so, so fighters had to be at the weights they naturally belonged, and weren't dehydrated.
What a load of ignorant bull****. You can't damn look at a person and say whether they have a good chin or not. And no, genetics only means so much. Hundreds of liabilities go into it. Fact is, no chin is built to take a punch and when the opponent knocks the other fighter down or hurts them, it could mean he didn't see the punch, the fighter who did it could have had substantial power, they could have been giving them a beating where the acuumulation got to them, their conditioning and so on.. Again, LIABILITIES. Not frickin' genetics you idiots.
Go watch glass chins like Terry Norris and your boy Amir Khan especially against Prescott, then watch iron chinned guys like Evander Holyfield eat shots from guys 30-50 lbs heavier all night, or Margarito vs Cotto 1. You're going to tell me some guys aren't born with the ability to take significantly harder shots than others? That's garbage, plain and simple.