Holyfield's Defense & Chin

Even when he was stopped you needed a ton of punches to put him away, he was also never knocked out cold despite fighting until his late 40s

 

I never rated his defense too high. Look at the shots he took from Tyson, Bowe, Cooper, Foreman, Lewis, Quawi, etc. Add in the fact that he was naturally smaller than most of his opponents, he had an iron chin.

 

What evidence is there to suggest he didnt have a great chin?

 

I think Holyfield is systematically underrated and neglected. He did himself no favors by continuing to get in the ring as recently as last year, but for me having that will to keep fighting long past his ability to do so burnished his image and just showed how he lived up to his nickname (and paid for all those kids).

Sometimes he would go to war, it was more like he stopped considering defense and just went for it. Most of the guys you listed are legends for dynamic offenses too.

 

He was hit clean by Riddick Bowe and Mike Tyson good enough for me to assume he'd take any single shot

 

He was KOed by Belfort.










Lol

 

He survived Bowe twice, Tyson twice, Lennox Lewis twice, George Foreman, Ray Mercer, Alex Stewart twice. Someone with a bad chin would of been stopped a hell of a lot more facing the same competition

 

Although Holy was known to sneak in a lowblow, headbutt or a combo of the two whenever he was in a bit of trouble, it's perfectly clear he had a granite chin.
Very unlikely he would have been nearly as succesful without it.

 

He had a tremendous chin. What’s more impressive is how strong his head was. It was like that bald dome of his was armour plated. He could ram guys full speed in the head and hurt them bad and he’d never feel a thing.

 

What a world we live in when someone says Holyfield's chin is overrated.

His chin was insane, his durability was even better.

 

The same his power