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Being cursed with a small head relative to my size (my wife, who's a foot shorter than me, has a slightly bigger head), my biggest problem in sparring used to be that every headshot I took off someone my own size seemed to go right through my brain, whether the other person was a puncher or not. Although I never got really hurt or dazed in sparring, this is probably because I never had a competitive fight with someone actually trying to take my head off (not to mention my very quickly learning that keeping your chin tucked in and hands up makes life in there a lot less dangerous).

Is a great big bonce an indicator that a fighter's better at taking a punch? Certainly most of the really tough bastards that spring to mind seem to have been blessed with a plus-sized skull for their size: Hagler, Bennie Briscoe, Chuvalo, Tua, any Korean fighter who made it to world level...

Good post

I have a big nappa and I was never down when I used to spar.

the truth wrote:Good post

thx bro

Surely neck size is more significant. A thick neck will absorb shock better and stop your head - whatever size it is - and therefore your brain, reverberating like a speedball. A bigger head is also a bigger target.

Thicker skull helps.

orbtastic wrote:Thicker skull helps.

I could be the next Carl Froch if that's true. My skull is twice the average thickness.

Well rounded chin, thick neck, strong legs, big head and big heart.

Bennie Briscoe had a big old dome on him (stopped once in 24 losses)



Margarito and Wach also have big heads but, as others have pointed out, the make-up of the skull is probably only part of what physically gives you a good chin.

Also, in 90% of cases, conditioning and fighting style play a much bigger part in how you hold a shot than most people realise IMO.

Did you have braces when you where young?

No

The pea-headed James Toney has never been stopped in his 86 fights. Whilst he is a defensive wizard, he has taken his fair share of clumps from 160 to heavyweight. Only one guy, Reggie Johnson, has ever really hurt him - yes he was down versus Peter and touched down against Roy but on neither of those occasions was he hurt bad. Some would argue he has one of the, if not the, greatest chin in the gloved era.

I read the first two lines of Dookus' opening post and thought - he spars his wife?!

Don't you go projecting onto me :)

I'm sure it's much more down to skull thickness than out and out size of the bonce. Also having a big neck will surely help as mentioned by others.

Seeing shots coming plays it's part, too. You need good eyes, a wide field of vision. The old cliché about it being the shot you don't see that knocks you out has a lot of truth to it.

In George Kimbles '4 kings' book it states that Haglers skull was found to be 1 & 1/2 times thicker than your average fella. Hagler claims the only time he was given a count it should have been given a slip.

JLP wrote:The pea-headed James Toney has never been stopped in his 86 fights. Whilst he is a defensive wizard, he has taken his fair share of clumps from 160 to heavyweight. Only one guy, Reggie Johnson, has ever really hurt him - yes he was down versus Peter and touched down against Roy but on neither of those occasions was he hurt bad. Some would argue he has one of the, if not the, greatest chin in the gloved era.

What round did Johnson hurt him mate?

I don't think so. Far too many fighters over the years of different shapes and sizes with great chins to disprove such a theory. Also plenty of big headed guys with thick necks that go down more times than a 5 quid slut to disprove it too!

Like real punchers, great chins come in all shapes and sizes.

Jeff Thomas wrote:

JLP wrote:The pea-headed James Toney has never been stopped in his 86 fights. Whilst he is a defensive wizard, he has taken his fair share of clumps from 160 to heavyweight. Only one guy, Reggie Johnson, has ever really hurt him - yes he was down versus Peter and touched down against Roy but on neither of those occasions was he hurt bad. Some would argue he has one of the, if not the, greatest chin in the gloved era.

What round did Johnson hurt him mate?

He dropped James thirty seconds into the second round and, even then, on the scale of a bit hurt and really fornicating hurt, JT was a lot closer to the bit hurt end of the spectrum. He recovered really well.

good post - i have always had a theory that the hardest guys to ko are also the most intelligent and articulate - in fact I have never been stopped or knocked cold in any fight yet!

People do classify good chins in different ways. People will think I am mad but I actually think Naseem Hamed had a good chin, nigh on all his knockdowns (of which there were obviously many) seemed to be due to balance and his unorthodox style. Best case in point is the Kevin Kelly fight, Hamed kept getting put down but how many times in the fight did you actually think 'hello Hamed is hurt and rocking here' whereas every time Kelly was getting knocked down it was due to pure power from Hamed. It was a similar case against Augie Sanchez when he kept getting put down, he was never actually hurt.

jameswilson wrote:People do classify good chins in different ways. People will think I am mad but I actually think Naseem Hamed had a good chin, nigh on all his knockdowns (of which there were obviously many) seemed to be due to balance and his unorthodox style. Best case in point is the Kevin Kelly fight, Hamed kept getting put down but how many times in the fight did you actually think 'hello Hamed is hurt and rocking here' whereas every time Kelly was getting knocked down it was due to pure power from Hamed. It was a similar case against Augie Sanchez when he kept getting put down, he was never actually hurt.

Augie had serious power and was a good amateur sure he beat mayweather, Hanes did well against him and kelley ho also could hit!

Not sure about big head or little head , best not getting hit in head !

I think it's alot to do with neck and shoulder muscles preventing a whiplash effect, I don't think jake la motta was thick boned etc but could take great punishment. People with thick skulls like UFC fighter Chris leben are durable but also do get hurt, if you get hit on the right spot you will be hurt like someone said with Toney vs johnson