He was never down in a fight from 2006 until 2017, while defending world heavyweight titles. Not a bad chin at all. He was never KOed, just TKOed. He never quit, his corner stopped a couple of fights and the referee stopped two others. Against Sanders, it all started with a vicious head butt, which Wlad never recovered from. He tried to defend himself with offense, but left himself open for Sanders' powerful left. He was dominating both Puritty and Brewster, but ran out of energy. He was trying too hard for the KO in both those fights, against Puritty to impress his hometown fans in Kiev, and against Brewster because Steward was urging him to KO Brewster, who had never been knocked down before that fight.
David Price had a glass / fine china chin Oliver McCall had an indestructable titanium chin Wlad's chin is in the middle of those extremes. Average. but probably one of the greatest HW technicians ever. One of the greatest jabs and one of the biggest punchers.
Yeah the losses against Puritty and Brewster were simply due to him gassing badly after beating the living crap out of both of them and he was like 224lbs for the former. The stoppage loss against Sanders was obviously due to his chin not being able to withstand the power of Sanders but Corrie was a murderous puncher with blazing hand speed and laser accuracy and a whole bunch of HWs including Wlad and Vitali are on record saying he's the hardest puncher they fought and we've even had numerous CWs like Johnny Nelson and Bobby Czyz praising his speed. Sure Wlad morphed into an octopus after being sent to study defence at the American school of slickness. Do I like it? No but they call that ''veteran tactics'' and boxing smart over there when their boys are doing it. It is what it is. What's good for the goose is good for the gander and all that. C'est la vie mon ami.
Not a glass chin. Not a vitali chin either. He's taken some monster punches before and kept on chugging. Nobody with a glass chin takes an uppercut like this one and keeps going This content is protected His chin was average for a heavyweight I'd say and his heart was excellent. I never saw him fail to try to get to his feet, and he got up from the floor to win before.
It's his stamina which is a bigger problem He wilted against Fury despite the low pace of the fight and throwing 0 punches. Total bum.
Perhaps it's not fair to say that his chin was glass, but it is a fact that he couldn't perform well under pressure. Panic certainly has a lot to do with it. Don't think his chin was the problem against Sanders, because he didn't look like he was on shaky feet. He just could not mentally deal with the situation of being crowded and punched at.
His chin wasn’t bad. Most of the knockdowns were either flash balance KDs or came late in a fight when he was completely exhausted. Never was slept for a 10 count in 70 career fights.
As someone has mentioned, Wlad was TKO'd. Three times. But never KO'd. He finished all of his fights on his feet.
Wlad had such a paper chin that he became master in illegal grab and clinch tactics when he realised he lacked the intelligence and technique to actually box and use legal tactics. He should have been disqualified for his performance against Povetkin and Haye. He was the master at clinching smaller guys to death. All this talk of ten year reign is just a load of bullocks as well. Firstly, illegal tactics, secondly, **** trash division nullify the impressiveness (essentially people regurgitating commentators) of this so called "ten year rein"
He was an athlete but not a fighter deep down. He burnt up a lot of energy when people got in close and could become disorganised and although not china chinned he was vulnerable to a good shot. It's probably his achilles heel would anyone have beaten him in the era he fought at if not for his chin? In his younger days he had good combinations and KO power from either side... later he became a jab, grab and right hand merchant. His size and physical advantages stopping opponents getting set to throw or in close to exploit his weakness. I remember Manny saying on comms one fight that he spent a lot of time at first with Wlad just in the ring - not doing anything more than moving around - getting to know the feel of it, the size so he knew where he was to build confidence and then working on the jab so it became a real weapon. We saw in later fights as he aged if he didn't throw the jab he didn't throw many power shots and the wins became harder to get against younger fresher guys. A good fighter in a very weak era.Would still beat the lower tier fights now probably but he should leave it where it stands.
His chin was alright. He just fell apart once someone put it on him with more than a single punch. It led to his jab and grab method, which bored the masses. And of course, the competition didn’t do much to challenge him, to be fair.
The point still stands. The thread is about Wlad's chin. In two of the four stoppages, the quality of his chin had little to do with the stoppage...it was a case of fatigue. In his fight with Sanders, he took several flush monster shots that would have KO'd most HW boxers and he finished on his feet. His chin was no worse, and probably better than Lennox's who went down for the count from a single shot. IMO, Wlad's mental state ( anxiety/panic) was more of a problem than his chin. I'm not saying the TKOs were in any way illegitimate ...just saying that Wlad's chin has been underrated.
His chin was maybe a 6-7. Recovery pretty bad, maybe a 4. Neither of these stats are why he went down so many times. He lacks basic defense fundamentals and lacks the stamina for a high intensity pace beyond a couple rounds. No matter what division or what style you have, you need to be prepared for the possibility of fighting hard at a high pace. It's dangerous to assume you'll be able to fight at a reserved, technical pace for all 12 rounds and then train that way. Once someone nails him hard, his very basic and predictable methods of survival are often to simply cover up with both hands (which hinders his vision, making the follow up shots that much more dangerous) or to grab the hell out of whoever is attacking. This is ineffective against a relentless combination puncher who can use angles or a tall strong guy that can simply break out of his haphazard clinches (he is far better at grappling when he has a clear head). True defense and survival skills are rare nowadays, especially at HW. I think Usyk is one of the only guys with decent defense fundamentals and doesn't panic or simply hit back when hurt. Someone like Mayweather can get nailed by a very good puncher like Mosley straight to the jaw and is so badly hurt his legs become jelly. Yet within that same round Mayweather was able to clear his head and even fight back with some smartly placed body shots. The reason for this is obviously because Mayweather had the skills to survive when hurt. If Wladmir had even 1/3 of those techniques and strategies he'd have 0 stoppage losses.
