...able to take Rahman's power punches while having one of the worst chins in the history of sports? - In the amateurs he got slept by Roberto Balado who wasn't considered a pucnher; - in the pros Oleg was KO'ed by Oliver McCall in one round. Surely, McCall was much more experienced but he KO'ed Oleg with a single arm punch, didn't even put all his weight in that punch; - Oleg was brutally stopped by Tua and Peter, which is understandable since both are big punchers, and he was also knocked out COLD in devastating fashion by Kirk Johnson, Lance Whitaker and T-Rex Sanders. Whitaker KO was especially ridiculous since Lance KTFOed Oleg with a purely arm punch - a slow lazy jab from (unnatural) southpaw stance; - FInally, Oleg was completely annihilated by Nagy Aguilera who never was considered a puncher by any means. All in all Oleg Maskaev has shown atrocious ability to take a punch. His chin is on Herby Hide's level, not better. But somehow he was able to take Rahman's punches pretty well. Surely, Rahman wasn't a huge puncher as some people might think watching him knockin out Lennox Lewis with a signle punch. But he had solid power and Maskaev was brutally knocked out by lesser punchers numerous of times
He was not stopped by Miroshnichenko, Stewart, Jefferson, Sam, or Courage Tshabala. It also took 11 rounds for a prime Tua to stop him. He simply had a better chin than Hide.
I honestly have no idea. Both wins were wildly exciting. But, again, no idea. His chin definitely got worse as the years went on. He was pretty sturdy to go 11 rounds with Tua. He also beat Alex Stewart and Courage Tshabalala, who could bang. So, some nights, it was there. But other nights, he just didn't seem to be able to take much of anything.
Thank you. He had that Tua fight in the pocket and just slipped up. At the time, I actually thought Tua was carrying him. And he did take bombs from Rahman in addition to Tshabalala and Jefferson.. And the Aguilera stoppage happened when he was 60 years old. Not a great chin but good enough, combined with his boxing skill, strength and power, to be elite.
Granted, Derrick Jefferson broke his ankle in the first round, so I don't know how hard he was actually able to hit. But it broke because he got dropped by Maskaev. Oleg was always a hard guy to read. Lots of mystery around him.
The most weakest chin for a heavyweight champion. At his period he was often compared to Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev and Alexander Povetkin. But he is far from that three boxers.
He was 40 when he got brutally annihilated by jorneyman not known for his power. Supposedly weak-chinned Wlad went 11 rounds against prime elite hard hitter Anthony Joshua at 41 and still was standing at his feet when the fight was stopped, not laying on the canvas with the look of a guy who just got hit by meteorite like Oleg was against Aguilera. Fact is Maskaev makes Wladimir Klitschko look like prime Marvin Hagler if we are talking about chins.
