Your Top Ten Chins Of All Time

Tex cobb..lamotta..mccall..holyfield..toney..ali..bad ass bennie briscoe..harry grebb..robinson..hagler..jus some that come to mind..o yea and earnie shavers

 

Charley burley..Gavillan

 

Basilio, Chuvalo, Fullmer, Tiger, Marciano, Holly Mims all had granite whiskers. How about Ray Mercer? And way back the Basque boxer Paulino Uzcudun.

 

Ill play two Light Heavies Jack Dillon and Joey Maxim , throw in Harry Greb

 

How about Joe Grim?

 

All I can offer here are some brainstorming ideas some of you others can play off of. (On more careful reflection, I'd omit several of these names entirely, but am recovering from a severe case of the flu, so I haven't the mental energy to deliberate properly.)

Hagler comes to mind right off the top. I don't recall his knees ever buckling, and the most serious physical distress I ever saw him in was after that clash of heads in the rematch with Antuofermo, when Hagler reeled around the ring in pain before Vito displayed his initial reaction. Hagler's peak saw a whole slew of middleweights who could take a tremendous punch: Vito, Minter, Hamsho, James "Hard Rock" Green, ect...


Naturally, it's easiest to go with heavyweights first, considering the assumption of greater firepower involved.

Tony Galento got through over 100 heavyweight fights during an era of six ounce gloves before a peak Louis was finally able to drop him. (Of course, Two-Ton got back up to return the favor.)

Tex Cobb didn't have the defensive skills of Chuvalo (nor the long career). Took everything Shavers had (to the body as well as head), although it should be pointed out that Earnie was correct in claiming a slick ring surface compromised his ability to get properly set. (In the footage, Tex is seen slipping to the deck in ring center, while Shavers is sliding in the corners.)

Max Baer could take a tremendous punch, as well as deliver one. It's only at the end of his rematch with Nova that he appears very obviously stunned and forced down by punching. (It appears to me as if the knockdowns Louis produced were as much a choice of Baer going down as Joe's offensive arsenal.)

Marciano claimed to have never lost his senses, and he was on the receiving end of possibly the most powerful single punch Archie Moore ever delivered.

Foreman, during his decade long second career, was an even bigger, slower and easier target to hit than when he originally boxed, yet nobody came close to dropping him, despite his facing some deadly punchers and taking beatings he never had to endure during his teens and twenties.


Toney has obviously set himself apart from RJJ in part with his chin. When Willie Pastrano was dropped by Jose Torres, a left hook to the body, not the chin, did the trick. When Pastrano started boxing to lose weight, he weighed over 250 pounds. His professional career began after he had lost nearly 130 pounds, but his chin apparently was always that of a 250 pounder.

Going to a source like boxwreck doesn't necessarily help determine the answers to questions like this, precisely because they may not accurately specify when a knockdown or stoppage is due to a cut, bodyshot, or questionable discretion on the part of a cornerman, referee or even the boxer who is stopped. (Of course we all know how notorious boxwreck is for things like recording ten counts as TKOs, ect...doesn't anybody involved with boxwreck ever check youtube footage against their own reporting?)

What do we make of somebody like Stribling, who went the distance as often as not, and was only taken out late in round 15 by a peak Schmeling? Perhaps a great defensive specialist, but doesn't chin have to factor in at some point? (Ditto Locche.) Greb would seem to be a natural for any top chin list.

Billy Graham and Duilio Loi (RIP) obviously can't be overlooked, although defensive skill certainly played a role with Graham (as is the case with others like Toney and Locche).

Jeffries comes to mind. He was only dropped as the result of an ill advised comback against a peaking ATG, as was true for Paulino Uzcudun. For that matter, SRL was never dropped until his first dreadful comeback attempt against Kevin Howard. (And Ray was only obviously stunned by Fireball Rodriguez and Duran in Montreal, although he also later claimed to be in serious trouble with Bruce Finch.)

Mike Spinks might deserve a mention here. He was only punched down by Tyson, and the first of those two knockdowns was from a bodyshot. He handled plenty of light heavyweights who could hit before tackling Cooney. But could any lightheavyweight have done the job?

 

In that case, how about Librado Andrade?

 

another guy who deserves a mention is Tony Canzoneri.