How many times were Frank Bruno and Henry Akinwade knocked diwn

I remember Horace. Won a lonsdale belt if memory serves

 

There’s a sizeable (and sensible) middle ground between bone china and adamantium, where most chins including Bruno’s can be found.

If the likes of Tyson, Lewis, Bonecrusher and Spoon are gleefully teeing off on you, there aren’t many fighters who are going to come out unscathed.

A weak chin in boxing terms is when a fighter gets hurt by punches that would not normally have that effect. All of the shots that led to Bruno stoppages were big punches from big punchers. The Cummings fight is the one you can point to, but that was early in his career and he did manage to get through it (with a bit of luck).

Bruno was generally unaffected by non-punchers, and took some decent whacks from McCall, Williams and Coetzer. Lewis seems to get a free pass from some for the loss to McCall, but Bruno gets little credit for getting through a very tough last couple of rounds intact.

Bruno’s problem, similar to Joshua was that when he did get hurt his recuperative powers were not quick. Someone like Juan Manuel Marquez would recover almost instantly from getting buzzed; he’d be flat on his back and then up on steady legs within seconds. With Bruno it was like a switch was turned off, and with the calibre of fighters who beat him you couldn’t get away with that.

 

Excellent post as always. This goes back to a post I did a few months ago where I explained that the bodies oxygen supply priorities the brain when it receives a significant blow. This happens to every fighter, however, the fighters with significantly larger muscle mass recover much more slowly as their muscles have been neglected their required amount of oxygen. Thus, they are much more susceptible to a stoppage.

I think it’s also worth pointing out that anxiety/panic would have the same effect in the brain requiring more oxygen and the fighter sagging/gassing. You have Price as an example of this, and on the other side of it you have Eubank Jn/Froch/Ruiz type who are extremely composed, calm and relaxed in a battle of attrition. It’s not that they literally have granite chins but rather granite mentalities...so when they are chinned their bodies regulate their oxygen more efficiently thus recovering quicker.

Just to back that up about the mentality, look how fighters like Wilder who many would have regarded as chinny in his early days can now hold a shot better currently. It’s all about the oxygen. Incredible how the psychological can affect the physiological.

 

Would have been very interesting if Groves floored Froch in the first 20 seconds of the round instead of the final 20 seconds - the most granite chin in boxthing badly needed that bell and he looked in shock for a few seconds.

Do you think he would have done a Fury v Wilder 12th round - I thought he was gone myself

 

I think by that time that Froch had declined significantly plus Groves had power in that straight right. If it was in first 20 seconds he would definitely have been stopped on his feet. I reckon Froch holds that shot a year or two earlier.

 

Great points.

Another example is the difference between young and old Foreman. The younger version, if not exactly “chinny”, was stopped by Ali, yo-yo’ed by Lyle, and dropped by Jimmy Young.

Foreman Classic was virtually undentable, taking flush punches from a host of big hitters with barely a wobble.

 

Froch has previous with weathering storms. Apparently he was badly hurt against Reid and was able to keep it together. Groves landed plenty more in the next few rounds without threatening a stoppage.

We’ll never know, but I’d be inclined to give Froch the benefit of the doubt based on what he took and overcome throughout his career. Similar to Clay-Cooper I, if you’ve got a fighter with a proven ability to recover from being badly hurt, were never otherwise knocked out in their career, and went on to win the fight in question, odds are that they would probably survive the extra time and recover.

 

The Eklund win was a good one. Who did Frank beat ? Wash up's and nobodies too.

 

Higher level washed up nobodies.
Could you have seen Quarless lasting 5 rounds with a prime Tyson and buzzing him along the way
Lasting 7 rounds with Lennox Lewis leading at the time of the stoppage?
Going life and death with Tim Witherspoon for 11 rounds?
Boxing Bonecrusher Smiths head off for 10 rounds?
Yes he was stopped by them all, but you’re talking 2 all time greats and 2 other very good men.
Quarless wouldn’t have seen out the 1st round with any of them.

 

Frank had his moments and I absolutely don't dislike him but he struggled against Stewart Lithgo and was all over the place against Jumbo Cummings. It's a pity that Quarless v Bruno never got made because Terry Lawless wouldn't go near it. Oh and Quarless lasted into the third against Lewis. Sorry. Second.

 

Anyone that disagrees on cardio / stamina having no correlation to your ability to take a punch need look no further than yarde kovalev , took everything from a fresh Krusher early and wasn’t hurt once , emptied his tank in the 8th and was promptly finished by a jab from an exhausted kovalev . Bruno’s chin was far from China , but also far from good . Akinwandes chin was hidden with all the holding and clinching anytime he was clipped he looked scared to death ,McCall iced him late the first time he landed a punch of note years after Bruno and Lewis fights . If ever anyone’s Jaw was certified steel surely McCall must be top of the list or close

 

Agree that bruno,s problems we,re similar to joshuas in that their recuperation powers we,re the problem. Everything shut down for frank including his brain when he was caught with a good one. Not sure his jaw was really the problem...as it usually always required a good shot to hurt him....think if i remember rightly lewis and tyson we,re basically teeing off on a defenceless bruno.....and yet still struggling to put him over. The jaw held up its just that he physically and mentally shut down when hurt. Then opponents could tee off on him basically defenceless.

Joshua similar...i think mentally he doesnt shut down near as bad as frank tho. Physically like frank everything betrays him for to long a period as well. Its gonna curtail his career....or their just gonna need to pick his opponents more carefully. Hes more chance of weathering the storm than frank tho as his mind still seems to be switched on....even tho physically he diminishes. Stamina/power seem to go from him. His minds on it tho....he kind of has the chance to get hkmself out of trouble with still being mentally switched on. Ruiz just made him pay for it with doing the right thing to get him out of their. Poor frank didnt have yhe same chance tho....he became pretty much defenceless a lot of the time. Although he had his nights when he was still mentally there after a good shot.

 

The Smith and Witherspoon stoppages were more down to Frank being exhausted and running on empty than being knocked out cold. He was ahead in both fights.

The first Tyson knockdown was 90% slip. He was on his feet taking big clean shots against the ropes when he was stopped. The same against Lewis. He was ahead and had Lennox in serious trouble but took a full blooded left hook that scrambled his senses. Never went down though did Frank and was again stopped taking shots on the ropes.

The Tyson rematch was a cash out, Franks people and possible Frank himself knew he shouldn’t be fighting anymore after eye surgery. Again, he was stopped after taking a swarm of big shots and left sliding down the ropes.

Frank could definitely hold a shot and stay on his feet but his legs and arms would stiffen. He was never sparked cold by a single shot (re Price for example) and his defeats were all to relevant fighters, all world champions and two of them ATG’s. With the exception of the Tyson rematch he gave brilliant accounts of himself.

Proud man and rightly so in my book.

 

Well yeah. The hype surrounding Bruno was deafening but he was only really a domestic level Heavyweight.

 

Sorry but no way. Domestic level is the likes of your Sam Sexton, Gary Cornish, and David Price’s