Chuvalo's Chin - Can A Case Be Made...

"The epitome of an elite, ATG chin is being unaffected by punches. Completely. "

No one is unaffected by punches. It's basic physics and biology, there is a limit to everyone's durability. Shavers had amazing one-punch power, but that is not as dangerous as the almost-as-hard combination punches of a Tyson or Louis, for example.

If Cobb had fought a prime Louis, Tyson, or Foreman, he would have been toast. Because of his epic chin, he would not have gone down to one punch most likely, but accumulation of punishment would have been enough.

IMO there are two aspects to a great chin. The first is punch-resistance i.e. how hard it is to knock you down and/or leave you seriously dazed. But that's not everything. in fact, in some ways it's bad to be too hard to knock down. It's better to go down and get a 10 count to recover, then to stay up and then get dazed on your feet and have the ref stop the fight. Standing up stunned for 3 seconds defenseless is more dangerous than being on the canvas for 7 seconds defenseless. So the second aspect of a great chin is recuperation. Take Ali for example, he got knocked down several times, but always recovered.

So I think you have to combine the two. By that standard, Ali had a better chin than Chuvalo. But Cobb, yeah he had one hell of a chin - still, did it ever get truly tested against a lethal combination puncher? IMO no.

Pound for pound I think Marvin Hagler has the best chin ever. He only got remotely hurt once, and that was vs Hearns, one of the biggest punchers at his weight. And Hagler not only recuperated, he actually went beserk and messed Tommy up in the same round.

 

well mccall took some monster shots from lewis and bruno without realy flinching, and wayne tokk the best naz had to offer and was never in trouble so i would say they where 2 of the best ever chin wise.

 

It's true that it's not just the chin, it the recuperative powers, but also the awareness of when to tie up and clear your head too. You get much less renowned fighters such as Marion Wilson that should really get more praise for their durability.

 

dotn know, they said had the fight not been stoped theat foreman was gonna drop him

 

" Chins are best tested when they are hit by hard shots by big punchers "


I think Chavlao had a heck of a chin, but its also a tad over rated. Foreman had Chavalo in trouble early. If the ref did not stop it, I think Foreman scores a knockdown in the next 10-20 seconds. Chavalo was busted up and quit vs Frazier. And yes, he was knocked down legitametly by Bonevenna, but the ref blew it. Did Chavalo ever fight a big puncher and take their best without getting TKO'd by punches?

McCall has a grade A chin, but like Chavalo, he has been shaky. Bruce Seldon had McCall visibly rocked and in trouble in round 9. Buster Douglas could have stopped McCall in the later rounds as McCall was gassing and a little hurt, but Douglas coasted in the final rounds, so it was a moot point. McCall said Bert Cooper hit him the hardest. McCall took some hard shots from Lewis before quitting. McCall is one of two ring magazine champion never to be floored by a punch.

Cobb had an anvil for a head, but was he really ever hit by a bomb? That did not happen in the Shavers fight. Cobb was once dropped by a no-name. He also took good stuff from Norton, Douglas, and Holmes.

Who took the best shot of the three? It’s a hard call. Maybe McCall took the best singular shot, but I think Cobb was the hardest to stop of the three, because IMO he mentally tougher than McCall or Chavalo.

 

It wasn't overrated at all.

I saw his fight with foreman and he was hit with a non - stop barrage of leather from FOREMAN and he didn't go down! He apparently turned away from fraizer with a brocken cheekbone - whats the problem he is human?
Another factor left out is what chuvalo said himself, he always say's he never took as many as people thought he did, and he alway's tucked his chin in. But nevertheless he had an iron jaw, insofar as rocky marciano propounding that he was impossible to knock out [ that's from rocky marciano!]

 

When was this then? He hurt Hagler at the end of round five or six momentarily (but don't think for one second Hagler was staggering or anything close to that) but that's about it.

Dornell Wigfall hurt Hagler the most. Some will say Norberto Cabrera knocked him down, but he didn't.

 

Hagler himself has stated there's been times he's been hurt to the point where he didn't know what round it was, might have even said where he was as well. This was pre Hearns and unfortunately he didn't elaborate what fight or fights.

They all get hurt, some just show it less and deal with it better when it does come along.

 

Juan LaPorte's is the best in my book, he stood up to numerous punchers over the course of his whole career and as far as I know was never dropped, and I cannot recall a time he was hurt.

 

i wouldn't say it was any better than wayne mcullough

 

bonavena never knocked chuvalo down,those were pushes,your reaching oscar wanted the glory any way he could get it even cheating if he had to.chuvalo said bonavena was a dog he ran the entire fight