Top 10 greatest fighters with suspect chins

Roy Jones
Benny Leonard
Tommy Hearns
Wlad Klitschko
Ken Norton
Jack Johnson
Floyd Patterson ( who should have fought at cruiserweight )
Terry Norris
Howard David Jr.

 

Why would you say Whitaker?

 

No one said Michael Moorer?

 

He was loosing to klitschko until the stoppage due to a cut

 

TKO6, but what's that got to do with the question being asked?

 

Mike Tyson, he was knocked out by an average hitter in Douglas and lost all of his career defining fights barring one by knockout or stoppage.

 

Not really true otherwise he wouldn't have become world champion but even if it was, he still could take a hell of a punch. I doubt there are 10 fighters in the history of boxing that could have absorbed the type of punishment Tyson took against Lewis for 8 rounds. He got hit repeatedly with some of the hardest punches Lewis has ever thrown.

Like him or not, give the man his dues.

 

Tommy Hearns became Champion and no one would argue that he's got a bad chin.

Lennox Lewis mentioned himself that he was toying with Tyson and could have got him out earlier, he also said he hurt his hand in one round and had to rest it for a while.

 

Look I'm not even a huge Tyson fan but I've been watching boxing for about 40 years and If you're trying to tell me Tyson had a glass chin then end of discussion. This is beyond stupid.

 

Since when as a suspect chin been the same as a glass chin?

 

I'm not really sure what the difference is, but I do know that Tyson has neither. In fact I'd say he has a very good - great chin.

 

If that's the case then why was he knocked senseless by the average hitting Douglas and Holyfield? Don't go down the "he took lots of punishment" route because other fighters have taken more and survived to see the final bell.

 

Because he was down 9 times in his career.

 

I agree with this. If you get hit clean when not expecting it by 230 lbs punchers like Rahman and McCall you will get hurt. Nothing strange with that.

For me this "chin" business gets overstated. More often or not is about balance, being caught by surprise, not keeping your chin down etc. Almost all KO's of elite pros either come by them being caught unaware in a bad defensive position or by attrition and exhaustion.

The same with Wlad. His problem when losing hasn't been his chin as much as that he panics and loses every semblance of defensive poise when hurt.

And Ali, whose chin is legendary, could be hurt pretty easily when hit with unexpected punches. Not only Banks, Jones, and Cooper, but also Bonavena and Norton hurt him with punches that were much less powerful than what for example Foreman and Shavers threw at him. Ali could take Foreman's and Shaver's punches since he saw them coming and managed to brace himself and ride them to a large part. It was the sneaky, unexpected punches that hurt him even though they weren't that hard. He was a master at surviving, though, since he, unlike Wlad, kept his poise. He rode the punches, ran, blocked, ducked, held and bluffed - whatever it took.

 

If we're talking chin as just the physical capacity to absorb punishment without getting KO'd, Tyson has one of the greatest ever.

Can't believe the bombs by Lewis he walked through. He wasn't even seriously hurt in that one, just throughly defeated.

But it's difficult for a short guy when he's tired in a tough fight. Because he hasn't much recourse except to walk forward, and when you do that when tired you run into dangerous counters.