Worst chin among HW world champions?

Johansson now that I think about it I agree. Hes really the one that sticks out the most.

Moorer got stopped by Holyfield but it took 5 knockdowns. Leon went the distance quite a bit. Michael Spinks would be based of just the Tyson KO and I don't think that tells us anything. Wlad after the Sanders loss never was close to being stopped again. Carnera wasn't made of durasteel but he was very difficult to stop.

 

When the, “title” is a manufactured cash-generating machine which serves no other purpose, through either design or accident, than to make money, & has no intention of rewarding merit, it’s no more meaningful than putting a dress on a man & calling him a lady.

 

Come now Ney, you don't have to be that way.

 

You're a poet and you don't even know it!

 

And I don't consider Ali for Floyd. When he went down to a knee in their first bout, it was due to attritional back trouble in a round where the GOAT unloaded 93 shots then didn't attempt going after Patterson like that again. In their rematch, he caused a stoppage by messing up Floyd's left eye badly.

Conditioning can be critical however, and Patterson was never in less than top condition.

However, Norton had been training for five months for Jerry Quarry, yet still got his knees dipped by a single right during the closing seconds of his peak performance. A single sixth round shot also knocked him silly in his second bout with Ali.

Of course he was in top condition for Foreman in Caracas, where he was challenging for the Title, for Shavers, where he was trying to remain in the top contender's spot, LeDoux, where he was trying to come back from Shavers (in a bout he dominated for seven rounds and I had him winning handily), and Cooney, where he was battle sharpened after ten hard rounds with Cobb and looking to get back into contention.

Much earlier, in 1970, he'd just been mentioned by Nat Fleischer's Ring Magazine for the first time, so Garcia I was crucial for him to make a good impression. Ken had already had four bouts by then, so he was competition sharpened. (Norton, like Weaver in his earlier career, didn't always train as hard as he should have, but they had naturally muscular physiques which hid inadequate training.)

Patterson always worked out hard, even through retirement, and was insecure during his competitive career. But his post Ellis comeback with Devil Green proved he remained in great shape, as he one punched Charley with a body shot in ten rounds. His early 1970's career was solid. After Floyd, only Lyle would beat Bonavena over Ringo's next 12 bouts and remaining four years of his life. (In fact, only Oscar decked him after 1967, and nobody separated his senses from him after Liston II in 1963.)

 

And you're an upstager, I'll wager...

 

Lewis’ chin is hard to rate. Though it’s undoubtedly fragile, ‘glass’ may be overstating it. He wasn’t hit clean & hard all that often, but weathered shots here & there in amongst the one-shot defeats. A clearer case can be brought forward on the subject of his recuperative powers - not good. Put out by Hasim Rahman as though it were a punch from Earnie Shavers, & though the McCall stoppage was debatable (& fair), he was made to look a bigger hitter too than he was in that moment.

Lewis doesn’t take a particularly good shot, but he recovers poorly, perhaps more significantly. I think he can take an initial punch better than Patterson or Moorer for instance, but hasn’t a fraction of these mens’ heart.

 

Lewis was hurt multiple times in the ring and recovered just fine to come back to win. He dropped Briggs hard straight after Briggs had unloaded some solid leather on him. He showed great heart gutting it out and prevailing against Vitali.

Lewis has plenty of "heart". He got up against McCall and 100% wanted to rumble on. I've never seen Lewis display a lack of "heart" in the ring.

 

As I said, he did weather some shots that make me baulk at the idea of a truly glass jaw (Briggs, one such instance). But he impresses me less in the heart category. He looked thoroughly, even dangerously, discouraged vs Mercer & Klitschko. There lie two incredibly limited opponents. Better fighters, I suspect, would have taken his heart that night (& Klitschko may have himself, but for the cut). Most of the rest of his career consists of shut outs & blow outs, providing little for analysis in this particular area. I think he lacked at least a level of guts to compare with the elites in that criterion, though of course not outright.

 

Marciano deserves a mention. Dropped by two tiny, old men, shaken to his core. Had he fought any decent heavyweights during his career, Oh Lord...

 

He's got nothing like a true glass jaw or he would have had half a dozen of more KO losses against the guys he fought and the punches he took.

That's a harsh view on his fight with Mercer. Lewis went toe to toe with him in a slugfest and comfortably won the back end of the fight to get home. That's heart exemplified. He shipped plenty plenty of punishment and then knuckled down with the fight on the line. He showed me a lot that night. In short he gutted out a tough one.

Klit was similar. In probably the second worst shape of his career in his very last fight he was behind and had taken some big blows but again dug deep and carved Klits face up to the point where he wasn't allowed to go on for his own safety. Lewis dug deep and pulled it out of the fire which is, again, heart personified.

Against Briggs he practically said **** it and hands down marched forward after taking a barrage and pounded him into the canvas. Briggs knew his night was not going to be successful at that point.

I love a good Klit bash but it has to be said labeling Vitali "incredibly limited" is silly.

 

That’s too generous on the Mercer fight for mine. He had every conceivable advantage over the guy & looked horribly dispirited throughout so much of that fight. When you have height, weight, reach, talent, ring IQ, & power in your corner & still find yourself in life & death, it doesn’t scream incredible courage to me.

Walking through Briggs is hardly something that warrants bragging rights. He was beaten by fossilised Foreman in his previous outing. He dug deep against the incredibly limited, arm-punching, lightly-powered lesser Klitschko for a very limited time until the cut ended the fight, & never faced him again. I don’t discredit the win but he was struggling an awful lot, for not very long, & then went off into the sunset. Is it convincing? Not really.

I wouldn’t say Lewis demonstrably lacked heart, but I don’t think he especially confirmed it, either. It runs parallel to Holmes & his recuperative powers when injured - he passed the tests he had, but those weren’t especially tough. So it is with Lewis gutsing it out.

 

We'll just have to agree to disagree Ney.

Your double downed description of Vitali makes me wonder how he ever won a professional fight tho. I have zero empathy or passion forhis fighting but he's not near as bad as you claim.

It'd make a good poll actually.

 

I am old enough to remember when my opinion of Klitschko was the norm. Times have passed me by I suppose.