It seems like this forum puts the topic of "glass chins" in front of everything - skills, power, physicality, defense, foot work. I don't deny that some fighters have poor punch resistance but in majority of cases it all comes down to the lack of defense or stamina. Even the likes of Amir Khan are getting KOed mainly because they are predictable, can be timed, and have clear gaps in their defensive games. Most experienced fighters would be able to take a punch provided that they see it coming and can mitigate its impact. Likewise, anyone can get knocked out if the punch is unexpected, landed straight on the chin and they don't see it coming.. pretty much like any hard KO that David Price took Am I the only one to think this topic gets too much attention over here?
You're transferring the focus to something that isn't the case. I'm not saying that glass jaws do not exist, I'm saying that they do not play as significant role as one may assume by reading this forum.
Actually, they DO play a VERY significant role in determining the outcomes of fights and the success that fighters have in their careers. Think of what Khan might have done if he had a chin! Would Oliver McCall ever have been anything more than an ordinary journeyman without his iron chin? Punch resistance is - bar none - THE most important attribute in boxing. And yes, we WILL continue to discuss fragile mandibles on this forum, as there are many posters here who recognize its central importance, thankfully.
Would Khan have beaten Prescott, Garcia and Alvarez? Or would have he had to endure massive beating each time out? Let's not forget that they all landed a lot of bombs on that chin. There are guys like Ismayl Sillah, who are massive talents but are hindered by their ability to take a punch. And then there is Khan who just has an average chin, and a poor defense.
This is just a litany of excuses for fighters who can't take a good shot. Can defense help a glass jawed fighter prevent their fragile mandible from being a factor? Sure, it's possible perhaps for a while. Look at Roy Jones. Once those defensive skills deteriorated, he ended up taking regular canvas naps just like any other fighter with a fragile mandible. So yes, other attributes can compensate for mandibular fragility, but they cannot eliminate it. Most fighters have punch resistance issues to one degree or another and this is PROVEN by the fact that most of them get knocked out.
They do, but they're the exception not the rule. Boxing fans like to portray everyone who doesn't have a Carl Froch chin as glass-jawed.
Just the opposite is true. Fragile mandibles are the rule, solid chins like Froch, McCall or Chuvalo are the exception. Actual analysis of what happens in the ring shows that most fighters have problems with punch resistance, to one degree or another.
"Chin's" in boxing are about 90% a mixture of awareness, vision, balance, experience, willingness to absorb anything, and defensive responsibility. If you have those things and you don't fight recklessly you should have a good chin. The physical aspects of a chin register about only 5% of the overall whole and confidence is about the other 5%. @IntentionalButt made a thread on glass cannons a while back. If you watch a lot of the guys that defined the term, most of them fought recklessly offensively trying to bomb their opponents out and would get caught and stretched because of that.
Disagree. Froch's chin isn't just "solid" it's iron and I agree it's the exception. But that doesn't mean boxers who get knocked out have chins which are fragile or have glass jaws. There's an in between. Glass jaw is someone who can't hold a shot hardly at all. Someone like Wilder isn't glass-jawed, but we see that all the time about him.
You're describing the extreme cases of Khan and Oliver McCall and then call it 'the most important attribute in boxing'. Something of this magnitude should apply to everyone, not only exceptional cases. Now, by saying they play a very significant role in determining the outcomes of the fight and being the most important attribute - at your own estimation, what percentage of fights were determined by someones week chin, not by the fact that they caught a punch they shouldn't have caught? You see, you're saying that poor defense is excuse for fighters who can't take a good shot. My opinion is that in many cases these glass chin talks are just generalizations that fans make because they don't want or can't dig any deeper into other factors: defense, stamina, vision, head positioning, fundamentals, pace any many other. For example, I don't think that Khan got knocked out by Canelo due to his glass chin. I think it was the combination of Khan's predictable pace and also that he anticipated that Canelo would work the body and he went to the head instead.
Well, yeah, I can definitely agree with that. "Chin" just looks like a very inaccurate word to incorporate multiple attributes that contribute to the ability to take a punch and not get surprised by it.
Wilder is a good example to bring up. Like 2-3 years ago everyone was talking about him as a guy with a classic example of a glass chin fighter, despite that we only had 1 amateur tape when he was still green and got dominated by a Russian experienced fighter. Any thread about Wilder was accompanied by the talks about his week chin. Then he somehow takes hard punches from very heavy handed Stiverne and Ortiz, and less heavy handed Tyson Fury. Somehow his fragile mandible disappeared. That's exactly why I find this topic overrated. I actually got inspired by @MVC! thread about Gvozdyk whose chin is somehow concerning.
