ATG Middleweight Chin Tier list-The Top Forty

Maybe Hagler should have his own category at the end of this - bomb proof?

 

I'd argue solid for Kalambay. Can't look past being ironed out in the first by Nunn, but he did seem sturdy outside of that fight.

 

Abrams was a borderline case (Solid/Iron) and ended up with a 'Solid' chin rating. It is difficult to argue a case for Kalambay being higher than Abrams, given the nature of the former's first-round blow-out defeat against Nunn. But it's perhaps not impossible and I can see why he might be tagged for 'Iron"

Like Abrams he suffered a seemingly freak result but showed a solid chin against other world class opposition. In Kalambay's case he was quite the consummate distance fighter. His efforts amongst high-level opposition, outside of the loss to Nunn, perhaps show a greater consistency in the chin department than Abrams - Kalambay went the distance with Kalule, Graham, McCallum, Barkley, DeWitt and Simms. Even when way past his best, he took the fresher Collins and Pyatt the distance.

Not definitive - but I can see a slight case for 'Iron' here.

All-in-all, however, it comes back to the manner of the starching from Nunn. It was a deserved KO of the Year and a shock to see a seasoned, never before stopped Kalambay getting one-punched into the tundra from which he could not return. This has to keep him outside of the 'Iron' class, for mine.


Kalambay = 'Solid'

 

For the same reasons stated by others, whilst I could see iron, I vote Kalambay as solid.

 

I have no issue with Kalambay being Solid. I suppose it does make more sense to lower him based on who else made iron and who didn't.

 

I think Kalambay is more like Benvenuti in that they both had a skillset and style that helped tremendously with their durability. Kalambay is just solid for me.

On another note, seeing some question the validity of McCallum's titanium classification is baffling too me. The guy fought Julian Jackson, 36 rounds with James Toney and fought and some legit 175 pounders without ever being stopped. Anything less than titanium is just crazy talk.

 

Yeah - Kalambay is probably somewhere between solid and iron, first-round kayo aside he didn’t show really major fragility.

Solid works for me too.

 

Jorge Castro deserves a mention 100+ fights at middle and never KO'd. Only stopped twice in 144 fights, both at cruiser and late in his career.

 

All the physical assets in spades, it’s just a shame he couldn’t box better, freaky one for sure one of the most proven chins in the business. starting out at 140lbs? And ending your career fighting undefeated guys like Jirov…

 

I might put Kalambay in average, but I can see the argument for solid. I can't see iron at all.

KOd in the first by a guy who never did anything remotely similar to that before or after. Knocked down twice by Euro-level guys (and against Dell'Aquila he took a standing eight the round after he was dropped). Down twice more against Herol Graham, the lightest-hitting world-class middle of that era. He wasn't seriously hurt by any of those post-Nunn KDs, but that's about the same as Nunn's record of getting hurt in fights, except worse in every way. And Kalambay got hit flush less often than Nunn.

I'd generally call Kalambay's chin his worst asset, whether solid or merely average, which he masked with some of the best defense of anyone on the list so far. Once his reflexes started to slow a bit, he started to get knocked down.

 

Tiger Flowers is tough to evaluate without much video. Going off of what is written and the era he competed in which I don't value as much as later ones, he is just average to me.