Strongest World Chin P4P

[UpperCrust]

Strange hypothetical question but something I was having a think about last night.

Naturally a featherweight with an iron chin for their division would stand no chance from a haymaker from a heavyweight, but in terms of p4p who do you all think has the best chin in world boxing?

[canonball1234]

Clinton woods has a world class chin jones never rocked him to the head but, says his bodyshots were the killers.wen he got decked by clemerson not many will have got up

[Yes We Can]

Froch obviously has a very good chin, and JMM also has a brilliant one. But the best of the lot even in a p4p sence would still be Vitali Klitschko.....

[UpperCrust]

Froch obviously has a very good chin, and JMM also has a brilliant one. But the best of the lot even in a p4p sence would still be Vitali Klitschko.....

Vitali was who I thought but then I thought he's the obvious choice as a heavyweight which is why I started thinking about if there was anyone p4p with a better one

[UpperCrust]

Vitali doesn't get clipped too often. He has a top-class chin, no doubt, but withstanding a few bombs from Lennox and Corrie Sanders doesn't make you the pound-for-pound chin daddy, in my view. Everybody talks about 'that uppercut' but unlike the one that felled Michael Grant, Lennox was not holding the back of Vitali's head, with the non-punching hand, at the moment of impact. It was that infringement, an infringement that Lennox successfully utilised throught his career BTW, that made his uppercut the weapon it was.

For a chin to be proven as truly Monzonesque it needs to have time and again withstood volley after volley of abuse and not crumbled.

Hopkins?

[Newport Daz]

Oliver Mcall claims to have never been dropped from a head shot which is pretty special considering who he's sparred with and faced in the ring.

Other current boxers that come to mind -

Shane Mosley
Pac
Athur Abraham
Froch
Kessler
Glenn Johnson.

With people like Hopkins and Vitali and the like, it's sometimes difficult to tell. They have such good defences that they rarely get hit flush. With Vitali I only remember Lennox and Corrie Sanders landing a real flush shot and both times he seemed bothered, especially against Sanders in Round one where he literrally hugged him until the bell finished the round. Again, when Hopkins fought Mercado the first time he was dropped twice from flush shots so his chin is obviously not impenetrable.

I remember some years ago before RJJ fought Tarver the first time the Ring did their annual best chin round up and he was in the honourable mention section. At this point no-one had ever really landed flush. So sometimes it can be difficult to tell and I'm sure most boxers aren't in that much of hurry to test it!

[Datsue]

Oliver Mcall claims to have never been dropped from a head shot which is pretty special considering who he's sparred with and faced in the ring.

Other current boxers that come to mind -

Shane Mosley
Pac
Athur Abraham
Froch
Kessler
Glenn Johnson.

With people like Hopkins and Vitali and the like, it's sometimes difficult to tell. They have such good defences that they rarely get hit flush. With Vitali I only remember Lennox and Corrie Sanders landing a real flush shot and both times he seemed bothered, especially against Sanders in Round one where he literrally hugged him until the bell finished the round. Again, when Hopkins fought Mercado the first time he was dropped twice from flush shots so his chin is obviously not impenetrable.

I remember some years ago before RJJ fought Tarver the first time the Ring did their annual best chin round up and he was in the honourable mention section. At this point no-one had ever really landed flush. So sometimes it can be difficult to tell and I'm sure most boxers aren't in that much of hurry to test it!

Agree with your post but I'd like to pick a few things out regarding the list you have chosen!

Pac above flyweight = yes, don't see how anyone could argue with that when you think some of the shots he's taken off Morales, Barrera, Marquez (when you see what that man does to career lightweights you realise just how difficult all those (hundreds) of completely flush counter right-handers JMM landed must've been to take), Cotto & Margarito... The man isn't impregnable but he's got astonishing recuperative powers & a very very solid beard. I'd say he's more Holyfield-like, in that you can feasibly drop him but keeping him there is (after 112 lbs anyway) a totally different kettle of fish, than Monzon/Hagler-like (head made of rocks). But a great chin, if not that ultimate Monzon/Hagler concrete level.

Mosley = fantastic chin, only Forrest has managed to put him down but again I'd say Holyfield like rather than the rarefied stratosphere of Monzon/Hagler. I say this 'cos I've always thought Forrest could've stopped him in that first fight, & that is something I cannot imagine ever saying (with maybe one exception) of the pair of middleweights mentioned. But a great chin, if not Monzon/Hagler concrete level.

Abraham = don't know/not sure. Only ever seen him hit by two real hitters, & he didn't like it either time imo. A strong tough man with a solid beard but a bit OTT to compare to anyone who's actually like you know fought people with the capability to damage them. So, good chin but I'm not convinced about the impregnability of the man (& seeing Dirrell -- admittedly a sharp correct, somewhat underrated puncher; watch closely late on vs. Froch & see his legs stiffen a few times-- deck him twice (they missed one of them) certainly doesn't convince me that he's got anything else other than a "merely" good chin).

Froch = again, not enough data. Had he stood & traded for twelve rounds with Abraham I'd be a bit more certain (& don't get me wrong I'm glad he didn't!). But Dirrell definitely bothered him, as did Pascal & Abraham & Taylor had him fvcked for a second or two. Not that that's in anyway a knock, but rather disqualifies him from the Monzon/Hagler level (who if they had been hit by the aforementioned list of people who've bothered Carl would've probably laughed). Again, a "merely" good chin.

Kessler = see above. Frochety had him unsteady (though I think that was the pace/attrition more than anything, please don't bring up the slip it was a slip) but simply hasn't fought enough big hitters to let us find out exactly how good his chin is. Another "merely" good chin.

Johnson= very very good chin. Again, nowhere near Monzon/Hagler, but probably more reliable than any others on this list. Doesn't make Monzon/Hagler level 'cos he went in the 11th vs Hopkins & I cannot imagine anyone outside of maybe Ray Robinson (offensively a fvck-sight better than Bernard) even coming remotely close to doing that to those boys. I'd rate him at slightly below Mosley/Pac level, simply 'cos I think those two have had a better class of hitter trying to fvck them up & withstood it, than Glen has (plenty of good hitters on his record, but not many savage ones.

I'd give an honourable mention to Marquez as well (the elder), simply 'cos a hard hitter in any of the divisions he's competed in (& I mean hard as in truly world class puncher) could feasibly deck him, but after seeing Pacquiao at feather & superfeather fail to take him out -- or indeed even fvcking come close other than with the knockdown shots -- was extraordinary, considering what Pac's done to much much bigger guys when he's caught them like that, how savage he is & how bloody hard Pac actually hit him. More of an ability to withstand ridiculous punishment than a real concrete chin; a bit Larry Holmes-esque, if you like (a guy who was dropped by some heavy but not all-time punchers but who --with one obvious exception-- proved very difficult to keep down & recovered so well from dire straits).

Erik Morales had a chin that I always thought was actually impregnable (the fact he was a massive drainer & twice the size of the blokes he was meeting played a large part in this, I feel) until one day, it went. But I'd say in his day he was within sniffing distance of the Monzon/Hagler level.

Oliver McCall was a concrete head = Monzon/Hagler level. So too (in his day) was Ray Mercer, a true Monzon/Hagler level human shock absorber, but in Ray's case bad living & too many wars beat it out of him.

People have already mentioned that Hopkins & Vitali -- though indisputably the possessors of a pair of very good sets of whiskers -- rely as much on defence as anything.

[alexpaterson]

James Toney took a hell of a shot. Carman Basillio and Jake LaMotta from the olden days, both guys took some amazing shots!

[Datsue]

Toney is an amazing shout.

I'd also mention Sergio Martinez, who is "easy" to floor because he takes massive risks with his footwork, but I think is actually bloody difficult to actually hurt. A bit like JMM but probably on balance holds a flush shot better; a notch up from that man, maybe...

[alexpaterson]

Toney is an amazing shout.

I'd also mention Sergio Martinez, who is "easy" to floor because he takes massive risks with his footwork, but I think is actually bloody difficult to actually hurt. A bit like JMM but probably on balance holds a flush shot better; a notch up from that man, maybe...

And he's been in with big punchers. Just remembered Jose Luis Ramirez and Julio Cesar Chavez, and most of the Aussies take a good shot

[Datsue]

Toney is an amazing shout.

I'd also mention Sergio Martinez, who is "easy" to floor because he takes massive risks with his footwork, but I think is actually bloody difficult to actually hurt. A bit like JMM but probably on balance holds a flush shot better; a notch up from that man, maybe...

And he's been in with big punchers. Just remembered Jose Luis Ramirez and Julio Cesar Chavez, and most of the Aussies take a good shot

Yes, SGM definitely has. Much much bigger blokes have pinged him & I don't think I saw one of their punches truly rattle (or even bother!) the boy. Like I said, might go over 'cos he does silly things with his feet but not from the actual effects of a punch.

But oh my dog, Ramirez & Chavez! Yes, yes a thousand times yes. I always felt bad living caught up with Chavez rather than his chin wearing out, all those years of sweet sweet Mexican beer (& probably gallons of tequila & fvck-knows how much nose candy) eroded a true Monzon/Hagler head of rocks. Watching him walk through Mayweather & Rosario like they were nothing is still one of the most chilling things I think I've ever seen -- flush punches from true world level wrecking-balls bounced off him like pea-shooter fire off a tank.

[alexpaterson]

The way he walked through Rosario (who had a really good punch on both hands) was amazing he took everything he had!

[Datsue]

i think the case with both Toney and Bhop is that yes they have good chins but those chins never really get tested due to their boxing ability to ride and slip punches, you dont see the two of them caught clean very often if at all.

Froch deserves a shout as he has been caught with some bombs. Vitali also is a good shout as some of those uppercuts he took from Lewis were huge a quick reminder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiC-n9-XqL4

I agree VitKlit holds a shot very well. But if a nearly forty fat Lenny nearly did him (& I am of the opinion & always will be that he simply could not take too much more of what he had already taken -- no shame in that of course but Holyfield took far worse with far less trouble) & Sanders had him doing funny things & impersonating his little bro' (hanging on like an octopus) I don't think one can seriously consider him up there with the Monzon/Hagler level.

& anyway Macho has given what I think is a watertight reason that those uppercuts didn't have quite the usual effect (Lenny couldn't grab hold of the awkward bugger well enough to hold his head there & hit it with the shot, which was his favourite tactic).

[Andypittcov]

Paulie mallinagi

[Asterix]

What's Antonio Tarver's chin like? I've never seen him hurt.

Librado Andrade has a very good chin, and I maintain that Antonio Margarito has one of the current best.

[Datsue]

What's Antonio Tarver's chin like? I've never seen him hurt.

Librado Andrade has a very good chin, and I maintain that Antonio Margarito has one of the current best.

Good shout, but I've never seen him take on a monster puncher so it's difficult to gauge.

Eric Harding had him down & going, if I recall, before Tarver flattened him & B-Hop sent him down. Not exactly the kind of punchers who make me think "Wow, he can take a shot" if you see what I'm getting at.

Margarito is obviously a very good shout. Tremendous chin. Shows just how truly bloody hard Mosley hits, that, rather than any deficiency in Margarito's chin... Though I have to say he has probably the worst defence of any top-level fighter I've ever seen, which makes him easier to stop than say Hagler/Monzon/Chavez, who all had comparable beards but rather more nous in the avoiding punches department.

[IRLangmaid25]

I agree with Sugar Shane Mosley has one of the best chins as he has only ever been knocked down once in his career, and all his losses have been on points. Arthur Abraham deserves an honourable mention as well as Edison Miranda brok his it saw Abraham lose over a pint of blood but still won and needed titanium screws put in if my memory serves me correctly. Also what about Miguel Cotto as well?

[Datsue]

I agree with Sugar Shane Mosley has one of the best chins as he has only ever been knocked down once in his career, and all his losses have been on points. Arthur Abraham deserves an honourable mention as well as Edison Miranda brok his it saw Abraham lose over a pint of blood but still won and needed titanium screws put in if my memory serves me correctly. Also what about Miguel Cotto as well?

Forrest did it twice.

MAC = distinctly bloody average. Anyone whose legs go like that vs. Demarcus Corley, Ricardo Torres, Zab Judah & Margarito (three being solid punchers, one a sneaky non-puncher), & who would've been out vs. the ones he came back to beat if he wasn't twice the size of three of them, does not deserve any mention whatsoever in this type of list.

[Finn]

what about briggs?

[Deserter]

Librado Andrade has a very good chin.

Shouldn't that read 'had' based on the Bute rematch?

[idle talk]

Sugar Shane, froch and JMM

[Yes We Can]

Kotelnik

[alexpaterson]

Domestically Chris Edwards takes a great shot!

[jamesmcdonnell]

McCall has an absolutely unbelievable chin.

Marquez has unbelievable powers of recovery, Katsidis nailed him with a peach, and Marquez was actually already getting up before his ass his the floor.

[states]

Wayne McCullough always springs to mind when this debate comes up. Not least because he insisted on proving how good his chin was every time he fought. Or at least it felt like it.