Who were the most durable heavyweights ever?

he was game but i wouldn't say in the elite echelon of durability

 

Bollocks! The dude had over 100 proffesional fights with literally no defense outside of catching punches with his face, met some of the biggest punchers of the era Max and Buddy Baer, Lou Nova, Lorenzo Pack and of course Joe Louis. He was only decked once in over 100 proffesional fights and it was on his 106th (IIRC) fight that he was decked by Louis. Name one other Heavyweight in history who went over 100 proffesional fights without being decked, can't do it because there isn't one.

Being decked once in over 100 proffesional fights with no defense and you say he wasn't in the elite echelon of durability :bart

 

hot damn! well you certainly convinced me maxie :good i guess i was blinding by the stoppage losses but as you pointed out, he wasn't knocked down or out very often at all (and as you said, he had NO defense)

 

J, you know your onions ! The Louis who fought these 3 guys would wreck havoc on the fighters of the past 25 years... Louis hit with great power and CLUSTERS of punches that a Mercer, Chuvalo, McCall never faced before...

 

still don't think louis knocks chuvalo down

 

There are durable guys in losing and durable guys that win, Tua was recently dropped by Monte Barrett (the Rahman KD was at the bell )

There should be a list for durable and winning and durable and losing

 

true

 

This thread was begun expressly to hype up Vitali Klischko, and Jim Jeffries.
When the history of arse licking is recounted, it will be considered less than a success.

 

Evander Holyfield.


Unbelievably durable, I can recall the beating he was taking from Bowe in one round, then coming back the same round and driving Bowe back into the ropes. Durable is a great word to describe The " Real Deal"

Tyson, Lewis, Bowe, Holmes .... big punchers. They could not put him down.

Not bad for a natural cruiserweight.

 

Eh, Jeffries is hard to rate, I always say he's not proven against Heavyweight punchers because he never faced any. The greatest puncher he fought was Fitz who didn't have a problem KOing some of the biggest and most durable guys of the era with 1 shot yet from all accounts couldn't hurt Jeffries in the traditional sense of the word even tho he could cave his face in. On that and Choynski, Griffin, Munroe and Sharkey, basically the biggest punchers the era could offer, you have to say he was one of the most durable heavies ever...

 

For a long time I too believed Jeffries chin was unproven because he did not take the shots of big heavyweights.
However after reading about the punishment that Fitz inflicted on Ruhlin,punishment that threatened his life and left him bedridden for some time, and perusing the accounts of the shots that Jeffries shipped in his second fight with Fitz , smashing his face to bits but leaving him still standing. I put Jeffries in the top echelon of durable champions chin wise.

 

Pretty good list. I'd maybe substitute Vitali for someone in the honourable mentions list like Mavrovic, who more or less took Lewis's monster uppercut for twelve straight rounds, and didn't really have the offensive capability to keep him away. He retired shortly after, though I believe that was unrelated to the beating he took.

Ike Ibeabuchi might merit a mention as well, solely on the ridiculous shots he took from a prime Tua without wilting.

Jeffries I don't know enough about to say whether he should be there. I'd probably have put in Evander, though that's just my list.

Marion Wilson is undoubtedly one of the toughest lower-tier fighters ever. Others in this bracket (though not as extreme) might include Demetrice King and Friday Ahunanya, both of whom fought some very hard punchers and took them the distance on multiple occasions. Not quite enough to put them into a top ten list, but worth a mention I feel.

 

Tua was dropped by Barrett at the tail end of his career. I don't think it should really factor that highly into his overall career toughness.

The Rahman KD was, like you said, after the bell, and a balance shot more than Tua getting genuinely hurt.

 

Mercer fought Tommy Morrison, who was plenty capable of stringing together hard explosive punches in bunches and had one of the hardest crispest left hooks ever. Chuvalo and McCall have together faced about ninety percent of the hardest and heaviest punchers of the latter half of the twentieth century. I'd say they've all three more than merited their position here.