Exactly. Punch resistance is a critical determinative factor in the outcome of many, if not most, fights. Sadly, there are some who follow the sport of boxing who refuse to recognize the CENTRAL importance of a sturdy mandible.
He's never had a glass jaw btw. But the problem here wasn't his jaw it was his non existent footwork that put his chin in a place to get smacked. Look at the first knockdown, how truly awfull he has become on his feet, has a few wild swings at bellew then retreats backwards half falling over himself to the ropes where he gets knocked down with clean shot. Hayes chin has never been tested because he's hardly ever been hit clean before as his feet and reflexes usually get home out of danger.
Yeah, that's why supermiddle Lolenda Mock had him on the canvas and ancient cruiserweight Carl Thompson stopped him. At HW, Haye's chin was suspect, at best, which is why he took the easy route to the Klitschko payday. Now, Bellew has exposed his shaky mandible for all to see.
Yes I know he's been down before but how many fighters havent...not saying he had an iron chin but it's far from glass He no longer has the reflexes, the ducking, rolling, slipping and leg work to get him in and out of danger, that's why he was so easy to hit. Bellew can punch, and haye was that flat footed with so much weight on his front foot be was taking the shots full on. Glass nah, more like a sitting duck
You can't say you are 100 % dedicated to the win and then go to party around the world while training. The greatest athletes are isolated a couple of days so they can focus, and guess what Haye does? Training on a huge yacht in Miami, wtf dude... It was the huge ego that lost the fight for Haye. It is badly hurt over the years with those injuries and constant talks about how great is he. Think about a second, for the last 5 years Haye had like 1 fight and he lost it because if an injury. It's not Bellew that is so good, any decent fighter was going to do the same to Haye.
That's why he's never been knocked out unconscious and has always been stopped on his feet. If he really had a 'glass' jaw, he'd have been knocked out unconscious at least once out of 30+ fights. But that hasn't happened!
He has an average chin in my opinion. The draining at cruiserweight clearly affected his punch resistance, which appeared to improve once he moved fully to heavyweight. Since then he's shown a decent level of punch resistance against known puncher Wlad, and took a ton of punishment against Bellew the first go round. The punches that dropped him in the rematch were brutal and on the button and Haye got up every time, including the third time when his head was turned around by that vicious left hook. That's the sort of punch that has you totally out of it dribbling on the canvas and Haye had the wherewithal to still get to his feet and defend himself, albeit in a vain attempt to remain in the fight. I'm really not a fan of Haye in the slightest, so I'm not trying to paint him up as better than he really was, but Haye showed enough toughness at HW for his chin to be raised above the level of a David Price or Herbie Hide.
He lost all his reflexes thanks to losing his athletic ability. He can't keep his glass chin out of harms way anymore. Contrast that to Wlad who even at borderline 40 was still relatively fast and nimble.