Is it possible Ali's chin got better overtime

I think it's entirely possible. Every naturally starts to take pain better and have a higher tolarance to it.

 

Well, yeah. Do you think the 12 year old version of you would take a better punch than the 22 year old version of you?

 

Regarding Cooper, Ali was stood there at that point stationary with his guard down. It was a free hit for Cooper who although not elite, could take your head off with his left hook.
Ali simply didn’t take Cooper seriously and was very sloppy in there.
In those circumstances he may have decked Ali at any point in his career.
I think the more mature Ali certainly rode punches better and that’s one of the reason’s Frazier apart he was never floored again.

 

I think the change of his style of fighting is pretty meaningful int this discussion.

 

Anyone can be dropped don't care how good of a chin you have its how they react after that defines them. One of Ali's most underrated assets was his chin what a punch that man could take. Didnt showcase it as much in his early days because he would float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!! As he grew older he begin to sit more on the ropes and take a few more chances due too age and reflexes. As far as Cooper is concerned the man wasn't a world beater but man he had a heck of a hook could knockout a elephant with that punch...

 

No.
When you reach a certain age, the almighty god of boxing adjusts the blackout limit and thats it.

For example, David Tua just wasn´t blessed with a good whiskers:

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Ah but Primo Carnera on the other hand, phew what a chin he had, he was the real greatest. Not this Poser 'Ali'

 

I once read that having a good chin was a mental state. Not sure how much that's true and, if I remember rightly, it was Bruce Seldon's trainer that said it after Bruce was looking to rebound from the Bowe loss so that's shot me in the foot before I've even got started.

In actual fact, Bruce might be a good case in point for mental strength being as essential as physical attributes in increasing durability. If Seldon felt he was competitive eg vs Tucker, McCall (I know he lost but he took some punishment) he could stand up under pressure. Put him in there when he doesn't fancy his chances (Bowe, Tyson) and his chin is suddenly like china.

Maybe the extra weight made Ali stronger but I wonder if the added mental strength of experience and, not insignificantly, his unswervable faith didn't make a huge contribution to Ali's increased durability as time went on.

 

No. Your chin doesnt get better if youve had a long career with 50+ fights+ a long amateur career and tons of sparring, wear and tear from jogging and strength training, etc. Ali had been boxing since he was 12.

Physiologically, it makes no sense to claim the reason Ali was able to take bombs from Shavers and Holmes in his late 30's was because his "chin got better". That's the dumbest, least scientific explanation ive heard. Never mind the fact Dr. Ferdie Pacheco advised Ali to retire when he saw the brutal punishment he was taking and if I recall correctly, Ali's brain scan showed signs of scarring after thr Shavers fight. Obviously Ali always had a good chin. Thats the only explanation that makes sense.

Ali didnt take Cooper seriously and even predicted a round. He was a young fighter in Cooper's country clowning and show boating and Cooper took intitiative and nailed him when he saw his chance. Anyone can be hurt or dropped of youre messing around. That doesn't mean Ali had a glass jaw and improved somehow and it doesnt mean Cooper hit harder than Sonny Liston or Earnie Shavers lol. It was a punch he didnt see coming. Those can hurt you more than a "bigger" punch you brace yourself for. If Ali had a glass jaw he wouldnt be able to get up.

I swear people dont have common sense.

 

In a word, no. It's possible only in the strictest sense that it's possible that there is no chair under my ass right now. You've basically got two competing hypotheses here:

1) World class fighters around 190 pounds are capable of hitting harder than some might have thought

2) The neurological health of a person who trades punches to the head for a living actually _improves_ over time, for no apparent reason and with no known or even conceivable causal mechanism


The second hypothesis at best calls for far more unwarranted speculation than the first. Wolff's law doesn't apply to the nervous system. Quite the contrary.

 

But people don't (typically) get knocked out by pain,they get knocked out because blunt force trauma temporarily disrupts electrical signals in the brain, and over time this can cause structural damage to the tissues themselves. Obviously that can vary tremendously from one person the next, with someone like the Quarry brothers at one extreme and Foreman or Chuvalo at the other, but one thing that's certain is the cumulative effect only goes in one direction.

 

I think fighters learn how to take punches and if they lie on the ropes, they absorb it better for some reason.

 

He had to be able to take it...he couldn't move like he did in the early & mid 1960's...he became a punching bag in the 1970's...

 

Damn good post!