Best chin ever

Has anyone a better chin than McCall?

Chuvalo, McCullough,Margarito,Lamotta etc could take some beating but I get the impression you would need to shoot MCall in the head to put him down. Probably take two bullets as well.

McCall is the clear number one with Chuvalo a respectable second.

Margarito I personally don't think had a great chin for the simple reason he was effectively a middleweight who boiled himself dry to make 147lbs and his was well and truly cracked by Mosley. LaMotta had a great chin but it's somewhat over-rated because of Robinson (good but not great puncher at middleweight) and his record isn't exactly littered with big punchers; Marshall being an exception to that.

A bit of guesswork with Burley and Greb but looking at their records you have to assume they both had superb chins especially the latter who isn't exactly renowned for being a defensive wizard. Reports suggest that Burley was taking a beating in some rounds against Charles and was only very briefly dropped (Rowley will be able to confirm if he was dropped in any other fights).

Kid Gavilan was rock solid at Welterweight, it took an absolute howitzer of an uppercut from the big hitting Rodrigo Valdes to drop and stop Bennie Briscoe who was otherwise untroubled through his career.

Wayne McCullough fought above his weight and had a granite chin. He definitely deserves a mention.

Some nice points Hammer, cheers for that.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:
Margarito I personally don't think had a great chin for the simple reason he was effectively a middleweight who boiled himself dry to make 147lbs.....

Boiling yourself dry has a clear adverse effect on your chin.

I'd disagree on that SoF, it can affect your stamina but I don't see why it would affect your chin, taking punches from guys smaller than you can only be an advantage.

De la Hoya took a fair beating from Manny. His chin wasn't the problem. He looked tired and weak with the drain, butthe chin looked fine.

Rachel Cordingley...in my dreams her chin soaks up loads

DAVE667 wrote:Rachel Cordingley...in my dreams her chin soaks up loads

Anyway, as a one-off fight...Carl Thompson. The punishment he took from David Haye was inhumane.

Haye Definitely punched himself out in that fight. Don't think he expected Thompson to soak up that punishment at his age.

Haye was expecting to go in there and blow him over.

tua has to be up there, heavyweights who can take a dig always up on my list as their being hit by the biggest punchers

Muhammad Ali, he has been floored but he can take a hell of a dig. Maybe it's his recovery that is supernatural.

compelling and rich wrote:tua has to be up there, heavyweights who can take a dig always up on my list as their being hit by the biggest punchers

Agree with you there; it's why I always put McCall and Chuvalo top, there isn't a single puncher in boxings history who could drop them and they both get a lot of extra credit for that.

compelling and rich wrote:tua has to be up there, heavyweights who can take a dig always up on my list as their being hit by the biggest punchers

also ibeabuchi even though the only banger he faced was Tua it 's enough to suggest he had a good chin

James Toney should be on this list. He has been punched by all sorts in every division.

Ignoring Vitalis kickboxing ko, he deserves a mention. That uppercut from lewis should of decapitated him.

AdamT wrote:James Toney should be on this list. He has been punched by all sorts in every division.

Ignoring Vitalis kickboxing ko, he deserves a mention. That uppercut from lewis should of decapitated him.

think some boxers have a advantage and can take a dig purely through being massive, vitali does have a great chin but does benefit from his size. its like valuev, he's never been stopped but dont consider him to have a great chin.

Fair point but Lewis was a big fella too.

Vitali can clearly take a punch but his whole reputation as a hard nut is based on that one punch, not enough for me to put him up there amongst the very toughest.

Steve Collins??

Hammersmith harrier wrote:I'd disagree on that SoF, it can affect your stamina but I don't see why it would affect your chin, taking punches from guys smaller than you can only be an advantage.

Marg also threw 1000 punches per fight so I don't think he was dry at 147 at all.

De La Hoya and Mosley both had rock solid chins but it's a bit overlooked as they're not your crude brawlers.

Floyd holds a decent shot, so did Whittaker, not that he got hit too often.

Gail Platt

For the Heavyweights, Marion Wilson deserves a mention. An obscure journeyman with a record of something like 15-50 off the top of my head, but never stopped in all that time despite facing a glut of the leading Heavies of the nineties and noughties; particularly impressive considering that he was handpicked for these guys to have uninterrupted target practice. Take a look at the guys he fought (or rather, who he stood in front of getting punched all night). One hard-headed fella, for sure.

In a 'pound for pound' sense then Toney would have to be up there, as Adam has already said. Has faced big punchers from Middleweight all the way up to Heavyweight in a career spanning more than a quarter of a century and something like ninety fights. Never stopped, only put down twice, and one of them was slightly iffy you could say.

Further down the weight classes, three Mexicans in particular jump out at me; Gaspar Ortega, Jose Luis Ramirez and Marcos Villasana. In particular, Villasana's chin had to be seen to be believed in Feather / Super-Feather terms. When guys like Hodkinson, Fenech and Zoomy are banging every shot under the sun off your chin and you're not budging, you know you're blessed in that department.

The Villasana-Fenech fight is ridiculous. Honestly not sure I've ever seen another fight which managed to sustain such a phenomenal pace over twelve rounds like that one. They dished out an insane amount of punishment to each other, and quite a bit of it wasn't legal, either. Absolute carnage.

Great post Chris.

Two fighters I always think of with good chins are Marvin Hagler and Julio Ceaser Chavez Sr.

Hagler was only floored once, and that was when he fought Roldan and was hit in the back of the head. I can't remember how many times Chavez was put down before he fought Randall or if he was put down at all? I remember him taking some whacks from De La Hoya and not flinching.

Eubank always seemed to have a good chin and very good powers of recovery.

Tex Cobb could take a smack...

Mike McCallum also..

All good choices guys.

Tyson has been stopped a few times, but he a good chin. Usually a barrage of punches to slow him down

Emphasise being on good there Adam rather than great, the list starts to get a bit too long if we're considering guys like him.

Villasana was a great shout from Chris, his first fight with Hoko is a favourite of my fathers, when I was younger he'd tell me about how he was hit with the kitchen sink without budging before turning the tables. Always thought he was exaggerating but he really was taking a pounding.

Yes fair point hammer, or we will be here all day. Stick to great chins then.

Jimmy Hill. What a beauty.

One guy who never gets a mention in this, perhaps harshly is Ken Buchanan. Think I am right in saying he was only on the seat of his pants once in his career, when one considers that included a beast in Duran you'd have to figure Ken had a set of whiskers on him. Cracking fighter and a genuinely hard, hard man.

Calzaghe and Froch both had really good chins.

McCullough took Hamed's best shots without blinking and some serious punishment from Scott Harrison and Morales without going down - don't think he was ever on the floor or took a standing count in his career despite facing some really hard hitters.

Of course Froch, can't believe he wasn't mentioned.

Heard a "ruomor" that Anthony Joshua has the best chin.

In all seriousness though:

Steve Collins and Wayne McCullough two of the best.

Also Provodnikov - anyone who watched Mattheysse v Provodnikov will know exatly what I mean.

David Price

Reckon Calzaghe had a better chin than Froch tbh. Touched the canvas in the last two fights but one was off balance and one was a blatant forearm. One tough guy.

Froch was nails as well but Kessler's shots seemed to shake him more and Groves had his eyes rolling in the back of his head.

What about the Mitchell fight..

Froch's was better

Didnt think Calzaghes was amazing. Just became very dangerous when hurt.

How many guys would have made the final bell after the shots Hopkins took off Kovalev?

Eubanks chin improved as he bulked out. Very solid by the end.

McCall is the best I have seen

Glen Johnson. Remember the mighty Froch saying how ridiculously tough he was/is.

Kurt Douglas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LzFsfOmwUA

Dipper, now that you mention it ..

All of the above. A special mention should be given to Marquez for his miraculous powers of recovery surely second only to Ali?

Texas pete has a decent chin

[quote="Dipper Brown"]Reckon Calzaghe had a better chin than Froch tbh. Touched the canvas in the last two fights but one was off balance and one was a blatant forearm. One tough guy.

Froch was nails as well but Kessler's shots seemed to shake him more and Groves had his eyes rolling in the back of his head. [/quote Calzaghe was dropped by Salem and Mitchell as well, but he had a great chin.

Ali was hit by some of the biggest punchers in the game, Shavers Foreman Frazer to mention just a few and never took the full count.Must rate as the best chin ever.

Ron stander had a great chin

David Price?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOX6w572ItQ