Joe Frazier's chin

Yes, “chin” can be interpreted differently by different people.

At the very least, a fighter can take head shots that don’t actually land on the old mandible yet they can still be described as having a good “chin” for being able to absorb same.

Chin might then be expanded to the broader impression of resilience to head shots which includes the ability to recover - which also comes under the category of recuperative powers.

We say Ali had a great “chin” but equally or possibly more so, his recuperative powers lent to Ali’s ability to stay upright and collect his senses in quick time.

I think there are times when we can reasonably identify when Ali likely had a micro sleep due to the effects of certain punches.

Round 10 of the Thrilla, when Joe was teeing off on Ali on the ropes without Ali moving or returning fire, might be one such example.

It’s also likely again that there were other times when we didn’t necessarily pick up on other micro naps that Ali might’ve had.

Re the Foreman fight, Ali himself described times when he entered the so called “near room” - a kind of discombobulated state but one that Ali was all too familiar and therefore, knew how to deal with and ride out.

Interestingly, when he was dropped by Ali, Foreman admitted that he literally didn’t know what to do - he had never been there before.

George said that he used that experience to haul himself up from the deck when he was dropped by Lyle twice. After Zaire, Foreman vowed to himself that he would never be knocked out again.

As it so happened, even after a comeback after an impossibly long hiatus, George made good on that vow.

 

True Ali's recupertive powers were unbelievable. Similar to Robinson, both could be hurt with the right punch but they had the ring iq and experience to weather the storm.
I recall Ali right after Superfight 2 with Joe admitting Frazier had him "out on his feet" a couple of times. That was the tamest of their 3 fights.