Rodney "The Red Shield/Guard Dog" Hernández (officially the new "Best active p4p chin in boxing")

Let this serve as the official ceremony of coronation and vouchsafing of the scepter & throne; so IB hath spoken and so it shall be recognized henceforth. The previous king, Juan "El Fénix" Ruiz, Jr., will as of a week from today have not fought in three years, since taking his first and only stoppage defeat in a 45 bout/16 year professional campaign (a corner retirement against Tögstsogt Nyamabayar). So, assuming that he is retired (but even if he isn't, tbh) we can safely deem the seat he formerly occupied to now be vacant.

So allow me to enlighten you on the foremost claimant, IMEO. (more "E" than yours, sucka )

Hernández is 12-7-2 (3), a record which, like Ruiz's before him, makes him seem an unlikely candidate for the best chin in boxing (and I mean that quite literally, no hyperbole). For some reason people want to assume that only a world championship level athlete will emerge as the hardest-chinned SOB in any particular moment in time - and well, that's stupid. You can be the hardest-headed man in the world but not have the rest of the package requisite to reach the elite tier of boxing, and you can be a unified titlist with a suspect jaw. There is no immutable correlation between those distinctly separate things.

Now, let me elucidate my impregnable case in Rod's favor. Let's start with his one stoppage loss. It came against Efe Ajagba, the young Nigerian smashing his way up the heavyweight ranks and expected to be in contention by about this point next year (more conservative estimate, late 2020/early 2021). Ajagba is the man so terrifying he made Curtis Harper flee the ring before the first bell had rung just by the looks of him up close in person. He's the guy that mangled Amir Mansour in two rounds last month. He's the guy that just last night did the same to Michael Wallisch. Every single pro contest of Ajagba's ten so far has ended within a couple of rounds - all but one. You guessed it, against Hernández. In fact, but for a semi-questionable referee stoppage, Hernández might currently hold the distinction of being the first and to date only man to last the scheduled distance with Ajagba. The ref waved it off halfway into the fifth of a 6-rounder, and well, see for yourself:

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On the one hand you can hardly blame Ricky González for putting a humane and merciful end to a very one-sided beat-down. This was the biggest case of a guy's "chin being too solid for his own good" (where said guy's skill level is so horribly mismatched against the hard-hitting opponent's) since probably Mikkel Kessler vs. Librado Andrade over a dozen years ago. On the other hand, Rodney was soaking up all those shots and hardly blinking. He is ridiculously impervious to head shots.

Further evidence of that: he fought in BKB, on the Soto Karass vs. Granados undercard, in 2015. He came in on less than 48 hours' notice to replace kickboxing legend Tyrone Spong against 6-0 (6) Julius Ronald Pollard (http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/629230) and once again did nothing but absorb punches like a chamois until it was his turn for some clobberin'. Highlights:

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He is the only person to last 6 complete rounds against Chinese super heavy Zhilei "Big-Bang" Zhang, who is 20-0 (16). The other three men to go the distance all did so in 4-rounders.

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He was also, until a month ago (when Joey Dawejko matched the feat), the only man to go ten rounds with Sergey Kuzmin. Zero knockdowns.

As with Zhang, he is among just four men to last the distance with 19-0 (15) Adam Kownacki, going eight rounds without visiting the deck once.

First to go the distance with Michael Hunter. 6 rounds. Never dropped.

Four with Razvan Cojanu. Never so much as stunned.

Et cetera.

Speaking of Joey Dawejko, btw, Hernández drew with him in 2017, which is probably his best result, although he does score the odd upset here and there. He snatched the zeroes of 9-0-1 Scott Alexander, 6-0-1 Bernardo Marquez, and 16-0 LaRon Mitchell last June. He closed 2018 with a defeat of 7-1 Nick Jones.

Next up for the Red Shield (a nickname derived from his stomping grounds, the Salvation Army gym in Modesto, CA where he trains & volunteers his time) aka the Cane Corso (a self-chosen appellation and social media handle derived from the Italian name, lit. "guardian dog", for a breed of large protective canine also called the "Italian Mastiff") is another Nigerian hulk: the six-foot and seven-inch Onoriode Ehwarieme (currently 17-0 with 16 knockouts) on the Hugo Centeno Jr. vs. Willie Monroe Jr. undercard on June 1st in San Jacinto. Ehwarieme, who represented Nigeria in the Olympics in 2008 but didn't progress very far, has so far mostly crushed tomato cans - first primarily in Ghana, then a curiously long stint in Argentina. This will be his biggest step up to date by far.

An upset will just further cement that Rodney is among the better American heavyweight journeymen.

A distance loss (especially without any 10-8 rounds on the score-sheet) will just further cement that Rodney deserves the "best chin in boxing" accolades I've bestowed upon him.

A loss by kayo will perhaps inject some doubt into my claims, and/or suggest that Ehwarieme really is some kind of monster.







addendum: Hernández's favored screen name is "cane88corso". Now, without jumping to any conclusions, the number "88", aside from being considered lucky in Chinese, is primarily used in the Western hemisphere as dog-whistling code for white supremacist groups, especially in the correctional facilities system, prevalent in the form of inmate tattoos on visible areas to signify being down with the cause. H is the English language's eighth letter, and thus 88 = Heil Hitler. Now, do I have any other evidence to suggest that Rodney is a Neo-Nazi or even a sympathizer with any of their ideological approximates? No. And I really hope he isn't and that he has some personal reason for selecting that number, or coincidentally did so at random, innocently oblivious to its widely understood subtext. But his deliberate choosing of "88" is a red flag, and is the only thing that has given me pause about making this thread. Don't get me wrong, I'm objective, no matter somebody's views, I'll recognize them as having the best chin in boxing...but if they're a Nazi maybe I just won't make a thread singing their praises. Oh and before anyone says "but he's Hispanic, how could he be a White Supremacist??" - do some research and educate yourselves. There are plenty of Latinos who manage to make that reconciliation with no cognitive dissonance.

 

Buona fortuna, Cane Corso!!! (against the Nigerian... unless my paranoia turns out to be well-founded and you're really excited to beat up a black guy for the wrong sort of reasons...)

 

Nicely called.

Would say not as slick as Page, but for sure as boiled-leather tough.

 

Part of me wants to message him on Insta or FB or something to inquire about the significance of "88"...but I'm honestly super nervous about the answer disappointing.

Just going to keep my little ostrich beak stuck in the sand and my fingers crossed, eyes tight shut like Dorothy in Oz, repeating "please don't be a Nazi, please don't be a Nazi "

 

...just gonna presume you mean Featherman Howe, since neither statement applies to Stewart (he gets plenty of tread in the Classic forum, and certainly didn't have freakish resistance, being at the very least as close to a consummate "glass cannon" as one can get with having reached final bell against both Evander and Big George)

Yep, his figurative beard is rivaled in magnificence only by his literal mullet.

Hernández vs. Howe would be a slobberknocker.

 

I was going to comment that a good deal of his natural resistance probably derives from his squat build, and yes the shortened neck is definitely a hallmark feature. George Chuvalo in many post-career interviews opined that he owed 99% of his indestructible aura to his genetic morphology, and the rest to just wisely keeping his chin tucked for the most part and taking a majority of hits further up on the cheek bones, etc.

...and yeah, no idea, Pollard just straight up vanished.

 

Oh damn, yeah, for some reason I never made the connection with your name!

Just checked his DOB, and sure enough Rodney's is 12/27/1988.

Whew! That's a load off - thanks, man!!

 

I feel really fucking stupid now, honestly - birthdate, of course, didn't even cross my damn mind.