ATG Middleweight Chin Tier list-The Top Forty

I'm going to iron for Cerdan and solid for Abrams although Abrams is one of those guys that is kind of an in between er. That era was full of tough guys no doubt but there was also a lot of undersized middleweights and not a ton of power punchers Ray Robinson certainly could crack for a welterweight and he showed that against plenty of middleweights.

Now Cerdan you can make the argument for titanium and I wouldn't argue against necessarily because he never was truly knocked out but I don't think he is up there with our other titanium gents which keeps me at a very respectful iron. He fought great fighter's, but not the heaviest of hitters compared to other era's.

 

115 fights and never stopped (only inside the distance loss was from a shoulder injury in his final fight), Cerdan can't be any less than iron, imo.

The only question is whether iron or titanium. Zale could hit, but him aside, I don't see that Marcel had the opposition to prove titanium, and a lot of his fights were below MW, so I'll guess iron, whilst conceding his chin may have been titanium.

 

I know he's already gone in at 'Solid' and I do not necessarily disagree with this rating, but Turpin was also a fair candidate for 'Average', in my opinion. The manner of his KO loss against Mitri alone is enough to raise the question.

Abrams was a helluva competitor but I label his chin as 'Solid'. While his early career KO loss against Jimmy Jones does seem to have been a freak event, it still happened and it takes him out of the 'Iron' stakes. He has proven solidity though, given that he went on to compete in over 40 bouts after the Jones loss, without being stopped, including distance bouts with Zale, Cerdan and Robinson.

Cerdan's record of not having been stopped by way of a chinning looks like 'Titanium' on paper - but him not having faced a whole lot of big punchers leaves him just short, for mine. His record including the Zale win certifies him as 'Iron', though.

 

Titanium Tiger

 

I'll sneak Abrams into iron and Cerdan into top shelf iron. Abrams could go solid as well.

 

Greb/Hagler/Monzon = 3 x certified titanium and it doesn't even need expanding.

 

Greb has clearly the deepest resume in all of boxing's history. In around 300 fights he was stopped twice. Once when he broke his arm, the other in his 7th fight, aged 19, when outweighed by 14lbs.

In 99 and 67 fights respectively, including the longest MW world title reigns and most defences in history, neither Monzon nor Hagler were ever stopped. Unlike with Greb, there's plenty of film to validate what their records suggest about their punch resistance.

3 clear titanium chins for me.

 

I have to say all three are titanium. I hate evaluating Greb when I can't watch film of him but that record combined with all that I have read about the legend speaks volumes.

 

I can't see any realistic argument for the chins of Greb, Hagler and Monzon to be considered anything but 'Titanium'.

 

Greb and Hagler are absolutely titanium.

Monzon is a weird one, as he seemed to shake off everything except a couple crucial moments. Iirc, he was dropped a few times in a single fight when he was younger, and hurt by a Briscoe left hook. Obviously he was dropped by Valdez, but Valdez laid out Briscoe so no shame there. I can't see Hagler or Greb reacting like that, though.

How about we put him in his own category? Monzonite.

 

I have been waiting to say that since January 8th.