Here’s my list: Ruiz - 10/10(the shots he took from AJ would have at least rocked most heavyweights if not stopped them but he seems to be unfazed. This isn’t the type of guy you can hurt with one punch you need to break him down.) Parker - 8.5/10(Whyte’s left hook he took would have sparked most heavyweights but he got up and was still on strong legs and didn’t seem too badly hurt at all) Fury - 7.5/10(goes down easily like a ton of bricks but always gets back up and recovers quickly) Whyte - 7/10(durable asf and can take a fair amount of punishment) Joshua - 6.5/10(Ate Wlad’s right hand and Whyte’s left hook but seems to have issues with recovery) Povetkin- 6/10(would have been a 7 in his prime) Ortiz - 6/10(took decent shots from Wilder but man has no gas tank and no durability anymore) Wilder - 5/10(one of the most overrated chins in history of the sport. Has been rocked by weak punchers and the dude has no punch resistance at all. Recovery is okay but can’t take a decent shot unless it’s a lazy right hook from a fatigued old man. His legs seem to buckle fairly easily.) Pulev - 5/10(just based from Klitschko fight. Probably worse now) Usyk - Can’t say yet for the heavyweight division
A lot of it depends on how we're defining weak chins. Some people will say people who hit the desk easily, which some fighters do without seeming to be too hurt. Others might say how easily someone is shaken up, but some guys get shaken up easily and don't hit the deck. Pulev getting a 5 seems harsh though. He got bodied by Wlad but that was Wlad in his prime. He got up for the most part... Not sure about Whyte being above Povetkin either.
Depends where you personal bias swings I guess. Think the top 3 are fine, the rest you could swap and change to some extent.
I tried to be as objective as possible. I just don’t rate Wilder or Pulev’s chin much at all. Even though I dislike Wilder it’s very hard to argue with the facts that the dude gets hurt by weak punchers and his legs have buckled against Molina and Fury. I would say he has an average chin at best. The myth I read from so many Wildettes that he had a granite chin just because he survived a very poor onslaught from a tired old man did my nut in. Fury exposed him a good bit chin and durability wise.
AJ dropped the almost 20lb heavier Ruiz with a two punch combination, whereas it took him about 8 big shots in quick succession to put the 23lb lighter Povetkin over even though Sasha was 39 y/o, tiring and had been badly shaken by the first right hand in the sequence. That absolute peach of a right hand that initially hurt him and the second to last punch the left hook were absolutely brutal and delivered by someone who is way bigger than him. Ruiz had almost 20lbs on AJ and almost 50lbs on Povetkin. This content is protected Those left hooks Wlad dropped and finished Pulev with would've sparked out a rhino. I was actually impressed Pulev was able to make it out of the first round after getting dropped x 2 and hurt that badly by a massive left hooks that early which he left himself wide open to. That being said, there's no way he would've done so against a prime Wlad.
Fury has to be top for now whether it's true or not simply because he's the only guy who has taken flush RH's off Wlad AND Wilder. Povetkin has only been KO'd by AJ at the end of his career. He has an excellent chin, clearly. Pulev must have a decent chin to take more flush power shots from Wlad than anyone since Brewster before finally succumbing. Wilder can take a beating, Ortiz and Fury both showed it. Haye confirms he can take punches too. Ruiz only took a few real flush bombs from AJ and fell over after them. We'll see if he fights Gassiev whether he actually has the granite people think. Whyte is a piece of dog**** baked onto a Jamaican side street. Nothing to do with his chin, just a fitting visual.
How do we know Gassiev’s power will transition well from cruiser to heavy? He surely can’t punch harder than Joshua and Ruiz managed to take clean right hands from him all night. I don’t think Ruiz is the type of guy you can hurt with one punch I think you need to break him down with lots of shots. He seemed totally unfazed by that right hand AJ landed despite his head flying back so quickly. That would have dropped most heavyweights or at least made their legs seize up.
Fury. Chin and recovery are the same for me. If a fighter stays on his feet but has really wobbly legs, I don't consider him to have a good chin. All of Fury's knockdowns have been flash knockdowns. He's never been hurt, maybe then Cunningham one.
Fury gets rocked by glancing punches from non-punchers too easily to be rated that highly in the chin category. He has excellent recovery and survival abilities though, and the heart to fight back from almost anything. Povetkin's chin is and always was excellent. Joshua's chin ia a bit underrated.
Yeah, Ruiz is the obvious #1. It's been said before but the chin he showed for his only career knockdown in Joshua I was outstanding... knocked down by a one-two combination that didn't look particularly devastating but up immediately with steady legs & crystal clear eyes, ate up a huge right, quickly went on the attack [successfully], really the stuff of legends.
I agree, Wilder's chin is ridiculously overrated. Tyson Fury hurt him with every single punch he landed upstairs in the rematch. Eric Molina hut him badly twice. Harold Sconiers dropped him hard. Ortiz almost stopped him. Wilder has amazing power in his right hand, but I don't know why some people seems to think he has a good chin. Wlad took Fury's power punches in round 11 (when Fury actually tried to hurt him) MUCH better than Wilder did
