Is there a way to train yourself to take a punch better, like building your neck muscles? Or is punch resistance just something you either have or you don't?
There will likely be a dozen viewpoints about this, but I'd opine: improving your neck/trap/upper back is a great idea, and will help protect against injury. Ditto working to strengthen your midsection ... but I think how well you take a punch is one of those innate qualities you either have or don't. In the late 70s, I remember seeing a pre-fight piece on Duane Bobick showing the new, intense training regime he was using that increased his neck size to 18" - then Ken Norton starched him in less than one round. That doesn't mean, of course, that you can't be a successful fighter without it. You would just need to really work on awareness and defense, and hope for the best when that successful (inevitable!) punch gets through.
I repeatedly uppercut myself on the chin, i haven't managed to knock myself out yet. I've got a decent crack on me so I'm assuming my chin it at Hagler type levels.
You can obviously strengthen your neck, upper and lower back to better absorb punches. Men are less likely to be concussed than females because of neck size and stiffness. And since that’s something you can really change then it’s not really an innate quality in the slightest. Notice how guys like Hopkins, Golovkin, Lomachenko do a lot of strength training for their neck?
You’re talking about heavyweights and heavyweights with a large discrepancy in class. And then you’re talking about someone who has just started doing something. He should’ve been training his neck long before hand. Chuvalo strengthened his neck regularly.
