Lennox Lewis chin: is it bad as advertised?

Lennox' chin may not have been cast iron a la Hagler,Ali etc. but I would n't classify him as chinny either. In his two losses it was more likely than not down to being complacent thus hanging his chin out. He stood up to the likes of Klitschko's and Mercer's big shots pretty well.

 

He even got nailed proper by Tyson a couple times without issue. Lewis seemed to hold up fine to shots he saw coming.

 

I think Lewis’ chin is solid. He endured punches from more hard hitting heavyweights than most other fighters did. I think the only times he got dispatched was when he was truly off guard and not because his chin was weak. In the Rahman fight in particular he seemed to be clowning a bit when he got hit by that huge shot

 

Well almost all fighters do because those aren't really the shots that actually get you.

As for OP Lewis chin is alright but not the kind of chin you'd want in a slugfest which is why I think Bowe would have beat Lewis 10/10 times as pro's

 

We have been over this a bunch of times; overall Lewis had at least a decent chin.
Even using thos 2 fights against him.

Also Bowe did not hit as hard or at least harder than some Lewis took big shots for.
He would not be complacent nor unadjusted to altitude, & to have even an8/10 advantage when you are another large ATG you have to have stylistic advantage, Bowe does not have it.

 

I've always looked at the issue of Lennox Lewis's chin like this:
How would other boxers react if they got a punch like that from Hasim Rahman?
That was a very powerful, and very accurate punch. I won't get into the debate about how good a boxer Hasim Rahman is; that's getting off topic. If not completely digressing from the topic, then at least partially.

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When I look at it that way, I realize that Lennox Lewis doesn't have a glass chin. He doesn't have a chin like Oliver McCall, but...

 

Yeah I go with it's not Iron like Ali's was, but not glass either, I think its somewhere in the middle if not a little above.

 

Lennox Lewis is the only champ in any weight class as far as I know who was one shotted not once but twice by fringe contenders. Fact. And those two fringe contenders are not even monster punchers .

That is the definition of a sub par jaw, end off, Lewis could never ever rely on his chin in a fire fight, it is and always was his achilles heel.

 

One shotted is not what happened vs. McCall.
That term should apply to being put down beyond question-& out.
Also when only a single punch seemed to do all the damage.
Not a controversial stoppage where he wanted to continue.

Any large HW is likely to be able to hit very hard.
Rahman a very strong powerlifter who remarked how he was training for 1 punch power was no powderpuff.

We also need to consider all those who hit really hard who did not even rock him.
He would win most firefights.

 

He certainly does not have the greatest chin, but no way is it glass. As mentioned before, he managed to survive some big punchers. That says it all. Nice post btw.

 

Respectable. Not iron, but not glass either.

 

His chin is not really bad. But compared to other great heavyweights his chin is probably only ahead of Wlads.

Vitali did not have a lot of 1 punch power he more just broke boxers down with a lot of punishment which was happening to Lewis also.

 

It had to be decent to take single shots from boxers such as Tua, Mercer, Morrison, etc without crumbling or taking a knee. Not granite, but now weak either. I'd say maybe a 6-7/10. Rarely did boxers land full flush combinations on Lewis partly due to his height partly due to his cautious style and ability to tie up when hurt.

His main issue was recovery which is a different category altogether. His recovery clearly wasn't that good as he sometimes needed multiple rounds to fully recover, and a hard enough shot could cost him the whole fight. I'd say that was 4/10. Part of this was biology, part of it was that Lewis from what I've seen wasn't really schooled properly on how to survive and defend himself when hurt, it's just as important as learning how to punch. Training to survive and avoid getting battered wasn't really on his or his coach's minds and it's something from the old school that not a lot of boxers practice nowadays. Lewis was good at avoiding danger, but not always good at getting out of it.

 

Well his chin very well could be as good as Bowes, we won't ever know because Bowe never fought any punchers. Wlad himself might have been able to face Bowes opposition without getting kayo'd