Top 10 ATG HW chins

andrewa1 · Aug 5, 2015

On The Money said: ↑

McCall never got in with the biggest hitters except Lewis, even then we don't know much about his chin from those fights, first one a 2 round KTFO and the second a bizarre non event. I'd rate Vitali's chin higher, vastly more championship fights.
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Actually, I have the day off today and was watching a bunch of old boxing matches, and Oliver McCall was totally knocked down by Henry Akinwande in round 2 of their fight. Ropes kept him up, was sitting on the bottom rope, but it wasn't ruled a knockdown. Even the announcers said it should have been ruled a knockdown. Akinwande hurt him later in the round with an uppercut, too. Not sure if this would make me bump Vitali above him, but it definitely makes it closer than I thought.

Marv888 · Aug 5, 2015

David Pricey

Clinton · Aug 5, 2015

cslb said: ↑

Tex Cobb should be on that list near or at the top.
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Yup

Zakman · Aug 5, 2015

Serge said: ↑

What about this guy he fought a lot of big hitters throughout his career and never failed to see it through to the final bell? He didn't even turn pro till he was 32 and didn't hang up his gloves untill he was past 50.

http://boxrec.com/boxer/4537
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Good point. Marion Wilson fought a who's who of HW fighters. He lost to every one of 'em, but never by KO. Top flight journeymen with solid beards are often overlooked when these lists are made.

Another guy like this with a super solid mandible was Everett "Bigfoot" Martin. His chin wasn't quite as solid as Wilson's, but it was not that far off either. And like Wilson, he fought a who's who of top HWs.

UnleashtheFURY · Aug 5, 2015

Super Hans said: ↑

that boy had no chin. none
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Far better than any English HW that's for sure. Isle of glass

uncletermite · Aug 5, 2015

andrewa1 said: ↑

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.
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No one had 90's foreman chin...he took between 18/20 unanswered punches from Holyfield in one round.He also walked thru some of morrisons crushing hooks..

Don't know about the ranking haven't done one yet ,but Vitali is easily top 3....I don't think Holmes so much,Tyson also took over 200 punches from Lewis who had a deadly right hand.,and also ate Ruddocks crushing hooks like cake..he had an iron chin when he was focused...Hose Robalta deserves a spot too as does Pinklon Thomas.

Marciano was never hit by modern Heavies,i cant put him on the list.Getting dropped by 41 year old moore doesn't help his case.

My top 3 right now based on who had to take the harder punches and keep standing even just for one fight as evidance...1/Foreman 2/Vitali Klitchko 3/ Mercer

Foreman took EVERYTHING Holy through at him this fight alone shows his chin even at 205 holy the punches added up he battered Foreman for the entire fight and only rocked him twice.Was never off his feet in his comeback,taking huge Gerry ****ey hooks along with Morrisons,thats good enough for me.

Vitali...took huge hitter Sanders best power shots,never remotely rocked up until Lewis who could not slow him down either,lewis arguably one of the top 3 one hit k.o guy in HW history.

Mercer...rarely ever hurt ate Morrisons hooks that would crush most,and ate some huge Wlad power shots and still was standing,also stood up to lewis,but wasn't hit with the same punches vitali was.Holyfield did make him take a knee with a body shot .

GoldenArms · Aug 5, 2015

andrewa1 said: ↑

Actually, I have the day off today and was watching a bunch of old boxing matches, and Oliver McCall was totally knocked down by Henry Akinwande in round 2 of their fight. Ropes kept him up, was sitting on the bottom rope, but it wasn't ruled a knockdown. Even the announcers said it should have been ruled a knockdown. Akinwande hurt him later in the round with an uppercut, too. Not sure if this would make me bump Vitali above him, but it definitely makes it closer than I thought.
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He was definitely off balance and not hurt when Akinwande sent him into the ropes.

andrewa1 · Aug 6, 2015

GoldenArms said: ↑

He was definitely off balance and not hurt when Akinwande sent him into the ropes.
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Balance may have played a role but it was a legit flash knockdown. Not really hurt no, I think he was hurt worse by the uppercut later, but still a kd.

andrewa1 · Aug 6, 2015

Zakman said: ↑

Good point. Marion Wilson fought a who's who of HW fighters. He lost to every one of 'em, but never by KO. Top flight journeymen with solid beards are often overlooked when these lists are made.

Another guy like this with a super solid mandible was Everett "Bigfoot" Martin. His chin wasn't quite as solid as Wilson's, but it was not that far off either. And like Wilson, he fought a who's who of top HWs.
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Wow, wasn't aware of him. That's an incredibly impressive list of really top punchers that he was never ko'd by. The fact he lost to all of them is more impressive in some ways, clearly he was taking some shots. Anyone know if he was ever kd'd? Based on this, unless he was kd'd a few times, I think he's got to make this list.

HerolGee · Aug 7, 2015

foremans has to be outstanding, it was still awesome IN HIS 40s, a time when your mental gyrometer starts losing it subtley.

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