Now I'm not talking about a fighter's mind set. If a fighter goes into the ring expecting a strong wind to knock him over, it will likely become a self fulfilling prophecy. Assuming the fighter's mind set is right, what physical or biological factors come into play? Why do some fighters get poleaxed by average punchers, while others can take beatings from ATG punchers and still be upright and even more curiously, why can some fighters engage in wars with ATG punchers on one occasion, but get knocked cold by a single punch from an average puncher on another occasion? Or you have 2 fighters with similar weight and measurements, but one has a chin that bullets can bounce off of while another has a chin made of paper mache? What's really the science behind the chin?
Sort of wish K Cobra was around for this one to give us our anatomy, physiology, and physics lesson for the day
There are many factors. Having strong legs helps absorb the impact like shock absorbers. Theyre the things literally keeping you up, so if you skip leg day or have very weak legs or knees you may go down easier. Balance is a major overlooked factor. If you look at Tyson's "knockdown" of James Quick Tillis in slow motion, you'll notice Tyson basically just touches him with his glove as hes already off balance. The punch had hardly any steam on it, a gust of wind could have dropped Tillis. But it was a legit knockdown because Tyson connected and hr went down, end of discussion. It showed Tyson's high ring iq and presence of mind to take advantage of the moment. In other words, following basic principles of boxing, having a good stance and balance will diminish the number of "flash knockdowns". You can tell a flash kd when a fighter is clear headed, gets right back up, isnt wobbled, and looks more angry than hurt and is able to jump right back into the action. WHERE the punch lands is probably the biggest factor. A guy can have ungodly punching power but only lands blows on the opponents arms, shoulders, etc and cant manage to land flush. Another fighter who doesnt hit nearly as hard can get the stoppage or even a knockdown against the exact same opponent simply due to being more accurate. This is often why some fighters will say so-and-so hits harder than so-and-so because they avoided getting hit by too many bombs and fought a smarter fight while against the other guy they simply got caught at the wrong time. For example, Tysons chin held up against bombs from Ruddock in two fights but a past his prime Holyfield stopped Tyson. Or Ali KOing Bonavena while Frazier failed to do so despite hitting harder and fighting Bonavena twice. This leads to my next point: styles make fights. Even if youre taller with long arms and have good power, if you arent getting good levarage on your shots or arent following a good game plan you might not be able to KO the opponent. If a fighter has a relatively weak chin but very good defense or reflexes, they can hang with even the biggest sluggers. The last three factors are stamina, heart, and simply genetics. Stamina is obvious, if you have done excellent catdio and have tons of energy its harder to knock you out. This is also a factor in RECOVERY as a fighter may get dropped but because theyre in great shape are able to bounce back. Heart is an x factor and again, if youve got tons of it you may remain conscious longer because youre too stubborn to stay down. Genetic factors like having a short/strong neck or powerful robust shoulders can lessen the impact (marvin hagler, David tua, gennady golovkin, george chuvalo, etc). Some people simply have the genetics to survive high impact damage better than others.
Focus, Genetics, Fitness You can increase punch resistance but you cannot fix the anatomical reasons why one cannot take a punch and others can....look at Tommy Morrison he burned himself out trying to KO Mercer the difference IMO besides the obvious toughness of Mercer was IMO Morrison thought he could KO Mercer when he got tired he lost focus Mercer on the other hand knew the danger and stayed focus from the first punch he was getting wrecked for 3 rounds....the other factor in that fight was belief Mercer who was never a highly skilled fighter but knew he could take it longer than Morrison could dish it out you could see him sit back a little while Tommy blew his wad....IMO Morrison would have mopped the floor with most fighters that night by round 3....Morrison never again fought like that...Now forward to the Foreman fight the roles were reversed Morrison feared Foreman's power enough to stay 100% focused on the task for the entire fight even when Foreman landed decent Tommy was able to take it and stay with the plan throughout the fight Foreman never let him forget he was there. Comfort with crowds there are fighters who have world class all time talent in the gym they do things that make trainers salivate until you put them in front of people they choke.....the stage fright totally changes them into a sub standard performer and makes some guys unable to take a punch.... The snap of the head causes alot of damage to include the KO or dizziness and alters the equilibrium for a moment.....there are bundles of nerves that connect to the brain around the chin the temple and bottom or behind the ear can short circuit the brain (Spark Out) or in the case with the ear knock the equilibrium for a loop creating unbalance and is what you see in a fighters blank eyes many times they are waiting for the world to stop spinning and when they get up to fast they can't stand straight......I have had it happen like any fighter who has ever been dropped they are falling but in their minds they are frozen as the canvas comes up to them the strangest feeling and if you are in good enough shape you can recover in seconds.... The fixes for many fighters is get them to focus is the first line of defense the next is physical build their neck muscle in the front and sides and chew gum or something to build muscle on the jaw and temple area...but if they can't focus on the opponent and the fight they will always struggle....finally endurance anyone can get in great shape this is no excuse for any fighter but again the psychology of a winner is king Their are two extremes in boxing with chins either extraordinarily thickheaded strong and hard to hurt or easily hurt the rest of us are in the middle somewhere....IMO and in my experience you cannot tell by anatomy look at LaMotta's, Jeffries, Chuvalo's and Provodnikov's heads they are thick with short necks but then there are anatomically correct physiques iron chins like Hagler, huge necks like Holyfields, Tysons there is no formula to know who can take a punch by looking I have seen wrestlers with huge necks and strong jaws get sparked by non punchers...its a crap shoot IMO focus and will to win is the number one reason.
It's an interesting question. I posted a very similar thread a few months ago. There is no direct experimental evidence (for obvious reasons) but still it's pretty safe to say from the armchair that are really only two* plausible mechanisms that could be at work, and the real question is in what proportion they exert their influence. The first mechanism I'll just call "biomechanics", and I would think this has mostly to do with the ability of the major muscles in the neck (like the trapezius and sternomastoid) to hold the head in place when receiving a blow and prevent (or rather minimize) the sudden acceleration that causes head trauma in boxing. The size and weight of the head itself might also have a significant effect, but I'm not sure whether a larger head would help by requiring more force to accelerate, or hurt by being more difficult to hold in place. It's probably negligible since human heads vary in size less than almost any other feature. The second mechanism surely has to be neurological, and this is just the threshold at which an individual person's brain begins to shut down upon receiving physical insult. This is where I'd expect the most variation to occur, since brains are so much more complex than other other organs, but I don't really know. I have some training in neuroscience but none in neurology. *You might say, what about psychology, or "heart?". I have no doubt this plays an important role, but for now, for simplicity's sake, I'm going to treat this as external to the question. It seems to me that the ability to cope and function with temporary head trauma is somewhat distinct from not experiencing this effect in the first place. This does raise additional questions (like how are you drawing any clean line of demarcation between neurology and psychology) but as I said, for simplicity's sake...
A big head, and neck help. So does having the right frame of mind to take a punch. Being warmed up helps some. Having sturdy legs help some. From what I know from martial arts days, if two structures have the same weight and one is long and thin, the other short and thick, the longer / thinner piece is easier to move and break. Of course bone is 18 times harder than concrete. In boxing, usually, but not always the string bean types to not have the best chins. And being well conditioned also helps as many stoppages happen because the other fighter was tired. But its hard to say as I've seen good chins ( Call it the ability to take a punch from the neck up ) In all shapes, sizes, and colors. What really makes a great chin is proven when it is tested by guy who land and can hit.
Fitness and punch anticipation certainly matter a lot. Making sure you don't get hti clean. Neck strength has been shown to help prevent concussions, so there's that too. For some reason some people do just seem to get "turned off" easier though.
