The McCall knockdown was waved off early at the count of 7, compare that to other champions getting up and you see he recovered just as quick as Larry Holmes from Shavers and faster than others. He didn't have the Tyson Fury luxury of a 22 second 10 count! This content is protected
He was stopped twice against an enormous array of punchers who landed on him...quite a bit. He could've been one-punched both of those times in the first round and presumed to be in peak fitness, for all the other data we have to analyse on his chin.
I’d counter that Lewis was great because of his chin issues. Not glass by a long shot but not able to absorb punches like say Hagler or GGG either, his chin was average. Lewis needed Steward after McCall to make him the safety minded boxer who became an atg.
Chin def wasn’t China. Probably average for his class of champion. But he was stopped in prime...probably the only fighter in the best ever at Hw to say that.
Lewis's chin was better than many give if credit for, but there were legitimate problems with it. The bottom line is that it was probably not bad enough to save you, unless you were very lucky.
I’d say he’s iron chinned because of the shots he took his entire career, a lot of heavyweights who have a concrete chins have been dropped and knocked out, even Ali was nearly knocked out by Henry cooper
I think while it wasn't the glass some would like to believe, it wasn't top tier or even average when compared to those in Lewis's class I think Ali, Liston, Frazier, Dempsey, Marciano, Tyson, Holyfield, Foreman, Fury, and maybe a couple others I'm missing have far greater chins and were more proven in terms of taking punishment.
And David Tua landed a couple flush lefthooks early in their fight with no effect. Mercer landed heavy leather.
Lennox looks like Jake LaMotta in there just brushing off Tua's best. "You need more than a lefthook and a haircut to take my belt" Lewis
trying to get a rise from people, sorry for pun. Regarding this knock-down I think Fury had his faculties after seeing stars for a few of seconds and nothing wrong with the count. We know Wilder exposed in second fight and think he gets drubbed in a third fight unless he uncorks a beauty and gets lucky. Regarding Lewis, the McCall fight was a justified stoppage as he was wobbling all over place and probably would have been sparked if carried on, saved for another day. The Rahman fight he didn't take seriously and under-trained and I think was at altitude and showed in the second fight what the difference was between them. No a china chin really, the only real stain is the McCall fight for me but he could be hurt, the nature of Heavyweight boxing!
