Better chin: Rocky Marciano or Mike Tyson?

There's a difference between chin, heart, and stamina.

Chin is how much damage you can absorb before you get buzzed or rocked. The higher the number, the harder it is for someone to hurt you with a punch. There isn't much you can do to actually improve the chin, but neck exercises, chewing gum, strengthening the legs, etc can help in being able to absorb a hit. Boxing techniques such as rolling with the punch, leaning away from it at the last second, keeping your chin tucked in, etc all help a boxer survive when the pressure is too much.

Heart is your ability to recover once you are hurt and shake off the cobwebs, pull yourself off the canvas, get the feeling back in your rubbery loose legs, etc. that is 100% a mental thing and no trainer can improve that, it's up to the fighter and his willingness to win+his natural biology to recover when hurt.

Stamina: Simply how much energy you have to keep moving before you can't move anymore. This is your "gas tank". You can recover a little by pacing yourself, clinching, resting between rounds, etc, but it never goes back to 100%. The only way to improve this is doing cardio exercises such as running, skipping rope, lots of shadow boxing, swimming etc. boxing related exercises such as hitting the speed bag or heavy bag to keep your arms up so they don't get tired also helps.

Rocky was an incredibly tough guy with the determination of a rabid pitbull and the stamina of a workhorse, but he was still a smaller HW and mostly fought other small HWs. Without a time machine there is simply no way to tell if Rocky could handle bombs from 220+ modern sized punchers and I'm honestly not sure he could. Rocky was an overachiever who exceeded everyone's expectations despite his small frame and lack of natural talent.

I think for guys who are light heavy/cruiser sized, Rocky had an 8/10 chin. That may not seem very high but he has a very distinct lack of punchers on his record even by his era's standards. Once you get well above the 210 mark I don't think it's anywhere near that high. Against modern sized fighters, I'd give Rocky a 7/10 given how much older versions of Moore and Walcott buzzed him with single shots. The fact he got off the floor to win those brutal fights shows that Rocky's heart/recovery (which has a lot to do with your conditioning and mental fortitude) and his stamina were superb. Even if you could hurt Rocky, keeping him down is very difficult.

Tyson I would say his chin was an 8/10, stamina a 7/10, heart 6/10.

Rocky's chin would be about a 7/10, stamina 10/10, heart 9/10.

Rocky can beat some modern guys, but the big elites who also pack a serious punch with good defense, technique, and the right style would frustrate the hell out of Rocky and stop him in spite of his durability. He would take way too much punishment.

 

P4P, I don't know. Flat-out, I'd assume Tyson. I wouldn't count on either of them getting one-punched by anyone in their prime. You just don't fight like these guys unless you're packing at least some granite in there. I've never actually seen a whole recorded fight from them and I don't know if they exist or not but from what I've seen it's true that they both have underrated defense. I bet that's true.

 

While I agree Tyson has a better chin than Rocky, it is incredibly bizarre to cite Mike Spinx in this discussion given Spinx was a relatively small HW and Tyson steamrolled him in 1 round without taking very many punches. I doubt Spinx hit much harder than Walcott or Moore, if at all.

 

Relative to the eras in which they competed = roughly even.

In a literal sense = Tyson.

Imo.

 

Ok ? Who was that cruiserweight?

 

Chin ? Rock fought back when in trouble ! got up and won ! Would not submit ! total nutter !! That is a dangerous bloke

 

Must be talking about one Evan Fields, which is disingenuous if so. By the time of their fights, Evan had supplemented his way to being a fully fledged HW fighter. He was the taller and probably stronger man, functionally.

 

And on top of all this it would be quite defendable to rate Holyfield a top 10 H2H heavyweight of all time.

 

Very true - definitely one of the most complete HWs IMO and a tough night for virtually everyone, as long as he doesn't go Holyfield left hook happy lol.

 

Fair points across the board hahahaha

 

Tyson had the better chin. Naturally bigger man, more thickset, huge neck, massive bony head. He was just much more built to withstand a huge shot, and showed it in his career. Marciano's heart and will to win was crazy though, and would ensure he'd almost always get up short of unconsciousness. Can't say the same for Tyson.

 

The artificially blown up, natural cruiserweight. Remember him?

 

Holyfield was 210 lbs1st fight 215 lbs 2nd fight when he fought Tyson. He was a strong and rugged heavyweight. Yes he fought at cruiserweight, but that was almost 10 yrs prior.
Irony is almost the entirety of his career, Holyfield would be heavier than Marciano.

 

Cmon when was Marciano ever beaten so badly an almost unconscious that he had to show that his heart an will to win was so crazy that he got up? Not saying he couldn’t just can’t remember when he actually did it. Kinda been unfair on Tyson too questioning his heart an will to win. Remember he took a beating all fight long against Douglas an he practically was unconscious when Douglas finally put him down with multiple flush shots an even though his brain was scrambled, his first instinct was to try an grab his fallen mouth piece an try to stagger up onto his feet. Didn’t manage to do so before he was counted out but still there was no questioning his heart an instinct to try an get up. Contrast that with someone like Foreman who like Tyson against Douglas was knocked down for the first ever in his career against Ali an even though he looked more exhausted than hurt, he just sat up an made no real effort to make it up onto his feet in time. Yet unlike in Tyson’s case no one ever questions Foreman’s heart an will to win.

 

A fair point to make. Tyson generally took an absolute shellacking before going down, whereas no I don't recall Marciano ever taking that kind of damage in a fight (in a short space of time). Maybe I'm being a tad harsh on Tyson here.