Is Holmes getting brutally knocked down by Shavers and Snipes a feat of recovery or a suspect chin

I am not the biggest Holmes fan on here but even I will say that Larry had a good chin. In heavyweight boxing, everybody has got some power when they use it, and when a fighter gets hit enough times, he eventually gets hit just right. Holmes might have had ten more fights with Snipes and not got knocked down again.

No shame in being dropped by Shavers.

Realistically, it does show that he didn't quite have an elite, Ali level chin, for example, and that is a fair point when discussing Holmes' overall greatness, and one I have used myself. But yeah, you don't take punches off Cooney, Weaver, Bonecrusher, Norton, McCall, Mercer, and Shavers in the first fight without going down by having anything less than a world-class chin.

 

Holmes is a lot like Louis, they got hurt or dropped a bit but were damn hard to finish due to their excellent recovery and heart.

 

I don’t think his chin was overrated. He was stopped once by a prime Tyson. I don’t recall him being dropped in his comeback in the 90s but maybe I’m forgetting. Better than average chin and great powers of recovery.

 

No China in Holmes chin. Ranks with the best in HW history

 

Snipes could hit. I mean he's not a Shavers type guy but I always thought he had decent power. A boxer getting clipped by a shot he didn't see is basically a staple of the sport. While I wouldn't say Holmes had a Vitali or Mercer type chin, he was certainly about average. I guess @Zakman could give us the definitive ruling though.

 

Holmes had a great chin kod only once in 75 fights by a prime Tyson. No suspect in Holmes chin at all.

 

Not sure id say Spinks almost knocked him out mate tbh.
The sixth round in the first round?
He never went down, never lost consciousness.
Holmes never stopped defending himself and tied Spinks up immediately.
Within 30 seconds or so Holmes was fully recovered.

 

He said Snipes. Renaldo Snipes.

 

AHH old man eyes again mate.
My apologies.
Yes, Snipes did have Larry on ***** st.

 

It’s both great chin and tremendous ability to recover when hurt. Yes he got decked, but he always got up, recovered well, and fought back hard. Shavers and Snipes both hit him with perfectly timed and perfectly placed punches. Most guys would have been out cold. Holmes got up and won by KO. The very heavy-handed Weaver hurt him too, but also got stopped. Weaver de facto ended John Tate’s career. The only one to finish him was prime Tyson, when Holmes was old, past-it, and inactive. Even then, he got up after being hit with a devastating right, the thud of which was so loud you could hear it clearly even on tv. Even fat and way older, he went the distance with Holyfield, and beat the very heavy handed Mercer who was coming off a win in which he nearly decapitated/killed Tommy Morrison.

 

That punch from Shavers could knock down anyone I believe. Holmes chin is an A grade. If he had a flaw it might be that occasionally he fell asleep or got predictable with his jab and his opponent could time him. Usually a right hand.

 

Not only that, he took the kind of overhand right square on the jaw that instantly finished Biggs, Williams and Botha (to say nothing of half a dozen lesser fighters and outright tomato cans like Micheal "Jack" Johnson) but got up without being terribly wobbly and lasted almost two more rounds.

 

Holmes took flush punches from big hitters like Weaver, Bonecrusher, Cooney, Witherspoon, Mercer, and never went down.

Holmes had a very good chin and great recuperative powers.

Shavers is considered a top 5 puncher in Heavyweight history.

Snipes caught Holmes yes but Holmes recovered in the same round and finished the round stronger.

To answer the thread absolute not no.

 

What are we going to suspect about his chin, after 75 professional fights, only stopped once (against an all-time great puncher/finisher) at age 38, and career spanning almost 30 years, on and off, until he was 52 years old??

I suspect it was a damned fine chin!