Better chin: Duran or Leonard?

Leonard had the tougher *******

 

Both had great chins, edge to Duran, IMO.

 

Duran, probably.

 

Leonard never got waxed out.Duran did by Hearns, so Ray takes this.

 

Both had superb chins. That blowout by Hearns on Duran could have happened to any fighter.

 

except Marvin Hagler, or Tex Cobb.

 

No question, Duran. SRL used his legs and speed to elude punishment, and he was never in less than top condition, but if he did get hit solidly, he could be stunned. As his elusiveness declined, so did his punch resistance accordingly. Fireball Rodriguez wobbled considerably in his second professional bout, then Duran repeated this in Montreal. We don't have footage of Roberto reacting like this to a punch until Hearns.

For whatever it's worth, Duran went the 12 round distance with Camacho both before and after Hector took Ray out in five. The Panamanian likely peaked at 135 for DeJesus III in January 1978. He was a day short of turning 33 when Hearns blasted him out, having partied his way into that contest, and 20 pounds above his peak weight.

Only Hearns and Joppy [when Roberto was 47, and had been competing for over 30 years] ever punched him out. How many stoppage defeats would SRL have on his record, if he competed in around 120 bouts over more than three decades?

Duran's chin was tested far more frequently than Ray's, against naturally much bigger men, at a far more advanced age, over a much longer span of time. Anybody can have an off night, but factoring out Hearns for Duran with Camacho and Kevin Howard for SRL, I still can't overlook Ray's post WW career. Hagler was punching him with ten ounce pillows. But a weight drained LaLonde decked him, Hearns decked him twice in their rematch, then after Duran punched open cuts over both of SRL's eyes to conclude their rubber match, Terry Norris also decked him twice. That's five knockdowns in the four fights between Hagler and Camacho, two knockdowns in two separate bouts.

El Cholo was only floored multiple times by Hearns in a single match. He was dropped cold in the opening round of DeJesus I & II, thrice by Hearns, and again caught cold in the opening round against Felix Hernandez, getting up to return the favor twice en route to a lopsided ten round UD when he was 46 years old and weighed 170 pounds. Joppy never had him off his feet.

The grand total of official career knockdowns sustained by SRL stands at seven in 40 career bouts over a span of nearly 20 years [all after he abandoned his WW peak following Bruce Finch in 1982]. For Duran, the total I can determine is six knockdowns in 119 outings over . Hearns dropped both multiple times.

Camacho retired Ray, but failed to retire Roberto. Duran said after their rematch that he planned to continue fighting, commenting that, "If Camacho can't take me out, I don't think anybody else can." What permanently shelved El Cholo wasn't the loss of his ability to take a punch, or losing his legs, or any decline in timing and coordination. His career was ended by a debilitating car accident.

Head to head, Leonard was never able to hurt Duran in three bouts totaling nearly 35 rounds of action. The reverse obviously wasn't true in Montreal. By Ray's own admission, it took him three rounds to recover from the second round stunner Roberto unloaded on him.

Pipino Cuevas never landed anything solid on Hearns, but he certainly did on Duran, and actually started very well in that one. Bronx Davey Moore was a decent puncher, and Benitez had just decked the durable Carlos Santos [who was never stopped in 43 career bouts] after blasting out Hope. [Interestingly, Duran was the only one of El Radar's four LMW title opponents to not suffer an official knockdown, although Hearns was the victim of a botched call against him. Rather than protesting the referee's ruling though, Tommy, ever the gentleman, just smiled at the blown call during the eight count after getting back up.]

Late career Duran took from Barkley what Hearns had just failed to withstand, something I consider proxy redemption for Hearns-Duran. Ultimately, he also took Camacho 24 complete rounds where Ray couldn't quite last five. Paz was a dangerous puncher when able to connect, yet it was Duran who handed him his first career knockdown when they initially met. Like Camacho, Paz couldn't floor him in 24 rounds of action.

Ray's legs allowed him to avoid the fire of opponents like Hearns when he was younger, although Montreal cemented his early reputation for toughness. But when his legs were no longer quite there, he could be decked when hit by eight ounce gloves. The nearly seven prime years between 1982 and 1988 might have told us a great deal about his chin when hit with eight ounce gloves, but we just never had the opportunity to consistently see this.

 

Funny enough... it was the last thing I thought of... not only do I feel like Hearns cracked harder at 154 than he did at 147... You are also forgetting the fact that Duran was past his best and well beyond his best weight... while SRL was in his prime at his best weight. Let's also not forget that Hearns never really cracked SRL in their first fight... Duran absorbed more shots in 2 rounds than SRL did in all 14 rounds. So this fact also makes it not a good example. When SRL was hit in the second fight a little past hist best (not nearly as far along as duran was).. he went down twice. All these reasons make it a poor example if you ask me.

 

This is the answer to the question.

 

Leonard got floored and stopped by the pansy punching Hector Camacho. An older and slower Duran literally didn't blink at anything Camacho landed on him and arguably beat Camacho in the fight preceeding Leonards humiliation.

 

people who live in glass jaws should not take punches:good

 

I think Benny Leonard had a slightly better chin than Duran, but I wouldn't argue to strenuously if someone disagreed.

 

Him against Hearns is a comical display of an iron chin if there was one.

A certifiably blind man eating flush, full power right hands from Hearns.

Fights brutal.

 

Exactly. Duran got starched by Hearns, Leonard not only survived his bombs, but beat him convincingly.

 

Yep, no doubt.