That isn’t what a good chin is, that’s called heart and spirit. Did Tyson have as much of that as Foreman? No. Did he have better punch resistance? Yes
This is an example of Mike going out on his sword, not a great chin. He got knocked silly by Holy in the first fight...watch the round before the stoppage. Holy stopped him, and he was no Ron Lyle, Gerry Cooney, or Frazier in the punching dept. Neither was Douglas, who knocked him out so silly he picked a mouthguard off the floor...notice how he couldn't even put in right...look at his eyes. He was out. Tyson had nowhere near the chin of Foreman...Foreman even took 18 straight punches from Holy and stood there. You've been schooled, put away your pride and just admit it.
Getting your head used as a punch bag by Lennox Lewis whilst being shot and out of shape and only going down to sheer exhaustion is the definition of a good chin. Foreman was absolute gone against Lyle, knocked out by Ali who was no big hitter, although granted Foreman was exhausted. Which takes away punch resistance, if you didn’t know. Tyson was beat up by Holyfield but only went down from a punch to the chest, more of a balance shot, Holyfield absolutely battered Mike from pillar to post, after headbutting him senseless and still couldn’t put him down. Again, Tyson had the better punch resistance, Foreman had more heart. If they fought at their prime, Tyson would knock Foreman out inside 6 rounds, as he would land clean and flush just like Lyle did, as you pointed out earlier. Good day sir
I thought about that too. Thing is, there are tactics that fighters employ that can be incredibly effective against one fighter and surprisingly ineffective against another. Ali tried the "rope-a-dope" against Frazier and Joe didn't bite. He tried it against Foreman and it worked like a charm. In this case, the pushing and shoving worked on Frazier because Joe was unable to counter effectively. Every single time Joe got shoved or twisted around he responded by throwing a left hook to get back inside or a jab to get in range. Joe threw a total of 3 right hands in the entire first fight (just re-watched it) and he only went to the body once. He never really presented George a varied resistance. This content is protected Tyson's response time was far better off the cuff than Frazier was in timing his opponents. While Frazier tended to rely on his erratic head movement to time his opponents, Foreman was able to neutralize this by pushing him off forcing him to reset whenever there was a brief period of inactivity between both parties. Tyson's more varied attack and sharp counters would present a different challenge that would keep George on the back foot not only because the tempo of the fight would be a bit faster from the outset but because Mike is far more likely to land with better accuracy. For the same reason why Frazier was a 4-1 Favorite over Foreman, Tyson should also be the favorite in this hypothetical.
My popular opinions: Larry Homes had a great jab. Jake LaMotta had a great chin. Hector Camacho had a great ... time.
