Top 10 ATG HW chins

This came up in a different thread, thought it would make a good independent thread. Here's my list, with explanations, post yours:

1. Oliver McCall: Hard to see much of an argument here. Faced some of the biggest punchers ever, Lennox, Bruno, Tyson in sparring, and plenty of top notch ones in Cooper, Masgaev, Damiani, Williamson, and a total of 61 fights as a pro through his late 40's, and never went down in the pros. Never even a slip or debatable kd that I'm aware of. According to him, he was never even knocked down in sparring. I think he may have been hurt a few times against Cooper and Bruno, but I'm unaware of anyone in history never going down against that level of competition.

2. Vitali Klitschko. He's basically indisputably in the top 25 ATG of HW's(I'd say top 10, but I haven't seen any non crazy haters put him below top 25), and has more or less indisputably the best chin of that group. Never been down as a pro, faced some ATG punchers in Lewis, Sanders, and top notch ones like Hyde, Peter, Arreola and Briggs. Only badly hurt against Sanders.

3. Muhammad Ali. Easily the best chin of the clear top 5. Only down 4 times despite some great competition, ATG punchers in Foreman and Liston, top punchers in Lyle and Patterson, and a whole bunch others. In the modern era, probably would have been ruled out against Cooper, but never stopped off his feet.

4. Larry Holmes. Clear number 2 chin of the clear top 10. Only down to three fights I believe, only out against Tyson, even though he had 75(!) fights. The two best punchers, and probably the only two ATG punchers in his resume that he faced (Tyson and Shavers) he did get kd'd, but the sheer breadth of his other defenses made up for this.

5. Evander Holyfield: Faced a whole slew of great, including at least 5 ATG punchers in Lewis, Foreman, Tyson Rahman and Bowe, and only went down to Bowe of that group. Tons of other top punching opp, like Cooper (who he did get a standing 8 count from), but only down 4 or 5 times I think. Probably the best punching opp of any HW ever, can make a good argument he belongs much higher here.

6. Goerge Chuvalo. Never officially knocked down, although was unofficially knocked down a few times. Faced a ton of great comp and had 93 fights. Can make an argument for higher, but I usually rate the more modern guys who had to face superheavies higher.

7. James Toney Not really a HW, but fought enough there to justify his inclusion. Only down once in his career of 90(!) fights. A few hard hitting HW's there, most notably Rahman and Peter. Deserves a space here for sheer volume.

8. Ray Mercer: Until in his 40's I believe only down once, despite a gauntlet of hard hitters

9. Nicolai Valuev: Say what you want about his competition, but the guy was a legit belt holder, faced plenty of top 20 hw's, albeit only one real ATG puncher in Haye, but was never knocked down. I believe that along with McCall and Vitali, he is one of only three belt holders never to be knocked down.

10 Rocky Marciano: Kind of a default pick, can't think of anyone more deserving, and he was never ko'd and only knocked down 2 or 3 times I think. Obviously the level of comp goes against him, but still a very impressive record.

 

Both are good choices that I thought about, great argument for both. Old Foreman had an awesome chin, but I passed because young, thinner Foreman was canvas ko'd once to Ali, nearly ko'd and kd'd several times against Lyle, and kd by Young. Tua's got an even better argument, probably does belong in th top 10

 

MMA takedowns don't count as kd's, that's why the ref didn't rule it a knockdown. If you actually look at video, Corrie is getting frustrated because Vitali was starting to recover from being hurt, Corrie then grabs/pushes/pulls him by the shoulder with his leg behind Vitali's leg. Vitali trips and goes to his knees. With the possible exception of McCall, I could probably find equally non kd moments on the canvas for every fighter in history. As far as his comp, Sanders and Lewis are top ATG punchers. Peter, Hyde, Arreola and Briggs were top rate punchers. And, as great as his defense and reflexes were to allow him to dodge most of their punches, they still landed plenty enough to kd lesser chins. Holmes outmaneuvers Shavers most of the time too, but when Shavers caught him, down he went.

 

I hadn't thought of Liston, he might belong in. I can't think of him ever being kd'd, but it seems like he was at some point, anyone know?

Ibeabucchi didn't have a big enough body of work for me. The only top puncher he faced was Tua, and he was outpunching him.