Is it safe to say Wladimir got the worst chin of the top 10 heavyweights?

Here's the thing about talent and power; When you have it, you are immediately something, cause not many other people do.

My reckoning with a massive puncher, as you know, came early on in my life an my career, but I'll never forget what that felt like, how paralyzed you are, how you even look in your mirror different.

It's funny; Boxing fans talk about chins more than world class boxers do. I think that as a very concept, it's utterly overrated and pointless at heavyweight. Big men hit with big power. Joe Louis' recuperative powers are much more the trait you'd rather have. The phenomenon that is McCall and Ali type ability to absorb punishment is the biggest double edged sword in the sport, and for the other 98% of us, big punches from big guys tend to do a bit of damage, ya? Most people think of me, personally, as this human tank with a great jaw after my last couple of big fights, but I've been stopped. It honestly happens.

I roll my eyes when somebody says Wlad has a bad "chin", as if anybody with some pop behind his blows is gonna come and deck him. You can EASILY convince me a guy like Joe Frazier would have him coming undone at the seams and scared of his own shadow, though. The mental aspect of taking a punch is hilariously paid no attention, when it has 75% to do with it, and another 15% is just whether or not you saw the shot(See Lennox Lewis. Absorbed punches from guys like Briggs and Tua without leaving his feet, but was kayoed by Rahman and McCall in single, big blows.)

A guy like Joe Louis, who wasn't a huge human being or a particularly built fighter, was often dropped and in trouble, but he got up, hung tough, and got back to work. His weakness is honestly negligible; You have to park him to get rid of the danger, hitting him with a big shot won't work.

 

Good post.

Yep. Mentality, experience and technique are often severly overlooked in discussions about "chin".

 

People still ask me why fighter z couldn't seem to hurt me without a baseball bat and why fighter y got me. Was fighter y really a bigger puncher than z?

Man, hell no. Fighter 4 clipped me on the chin while I was thinking of something else. That's all it took; A little lazy, a lack of focus, and a big defensive mistake.

Fighter z, huge puncher though he was, never managed to set up a similar shot. It's the same with me; I knock nearly everybody out. Are the guys I can't, or who last late in fights with me, these amazing examples of sturdy chins? No. I wasn't able to hit them the way I did the others, or when I did, they handled it so well as to not give me a free shot to try again.

 

It's true.. :raises right hand: :good

 

The exact opposite to Wlad in this regard have to be Sal Sanchez. A large part of why he was so hard to get out of there was his amazing composure. Watch him when he's being pressured hard in the corner or on the ropes. He perhaps doesn't have the moves of a Loche, Benitez or Toney, but he's so relaxed, always keeps his balance and his eyes fixed on his opponent, If you manage to do that, you can probably deal with just about anyone that doesn't have a ridicolous advantage in size, strength and power.

 

The only shot that can't be absorbed in boxing is a liver shot delivered with concussive power and sharpness. It'll ALWAYS hurt.

Head shots can be absorbed till the brain dies or the switch gets flipped. The reason they aren't is mental in nature; Either resistance is beaten out of you so you, on some level, quit, or your switch gets flipped because you made a mistake or didn't see the punch. That's when the legs go.

Getting up from a big punch is a big deal. 90% of KO's occur because a fighter simply doesn't rise, even though he realistically could.