BoxRec

I know this has probably been done to death but from an Aussie perspective who does everyone think has had Australia's best chin?
My choice is Jeff Harding, from memory. He took on some huge punchers, but I haven't retained all the local fights I have seen and know that others will remember better than me.
By they way I was thinking in the shower today and I reckon I would put money on the fact that I saw Tony Mundine KO Fred Blair on TV Ringside, but everyone said it didn't happen. Does anyone else think they saw it.......:) c'mon help me out

Hardest Chin: There was this English import that fought 4 times on the old TV Ringside called Mick Cain and he had a jaw that was harder than granite. Big hitters like Fred Etuati and Kahu Mahanga hit him with their best shots without any effect at the time. Mick returned to England and never fought again, so there may have been some cumulative effect of the big shots he took.

Cant help you out as Tony's record does not show such an entry.

Tony fought 5 times at Melbourne's Festival Hall in the TV Ringside era, against: Billy Choules; Feleti Leone; Kahu Mahanga; Sione Sani and Ricky Datsun. Maybe it was one of those apart from the Kahu bout.

I remember watching Tony at his early stomping ground of Souths Leagues Club, Redfern and his opposition was basically dodging, clinging on for dear life, when Tony threw a jab, and the opponent flung himself on the canvas to be counted out. The Channel 9 caller, "Won" Casey, exclaimed "there's a phantom in the house tonight".

Barry Michael has to be in the mix. Michael fought over 500 pro rounds and my mail is he was never off his feet.

I don't think Lester Ellis was ever off his feet either?

bollocks wrote:I don't think Lester Ellis was ever off his feet either?

Lester went down in the 3rd round against Mundine, just prior to Keith throwing the towel in. But, as much as he gave Mundine a bit to think about while it lasted, Lester hadn't fought for over 6 years and the fight amounted to little more than a farce.

I wondered also whether Lester went down in his 2nd fight against Sichula? It ended in the 4th and I can't remember whether Ellis went down in that fight or not?

From memory Ellis was stopped on his feet by Sichula but I could be wrong. (Sichula was a very handy fighter, a lot of fans thought he beat Ellis twice) As for the Mundine farce....considering it should never have been allowed to go ahead we can safely ignore it altogether IMO

bollocks wrote:From memory Ellis was stopped on his feet by Sichula but I could be wrong. (Sichula was a very handy fighter, a lot of fans thought he beat Ellis twice) As for the Mundine farce....considering it should never have been allowed to go ahead we can safely ignore it altogether IMO

Regarding the second Sichula fight, I vaguely remember Lester getting pinned in the corner and the referee stepping in and stopping it. But I don't recall if Schula dropped Lester earlier on though?

As far as the Mundine fight goes, I agree wholeheartedly. Lester hadn't fought for over 6 years. The fight should never have happened.

Honorable mention being a Kiwi Sean Sullivan.

N2 Shape wrote:Honorable mention being a Kiwi Sean Sullivan.

N2 Shape wrote:Honorable mention being a Kiwi Sean Sullivan.

Good call.

Can't recall seeing Frank Ropus on the canvas. He certainly had a great chin anyway.

Hard to go past Harding... but i'll throw out former Oz/Empire champion George Barnes.... little buzzsaw he was.... never backed down and wasnt stopped until his final bout, just shy of his 35th birthday......also went 15 rounds with Freddie Dawson who had knocked out every decent LW and WW in Australia at the time.

Tinnie wrote:Hard to go past Harding... but i'll throw out former Oz/Empire champion George Barnes.... little buzzsaw he was.... never backed down and wasnt stopped until his final bout, just shy of his 35th birthday......also went 15 rounds with Freddie Dawson who had knocked out every decent LW and WW in Australia at the time.

Harding's chin was granite, and it needed to be because it was often his first line of defence.

Andries did manage to KO Harding in Melbourne in their 2nd meeting. But it took seven rounds of attrition and 3 overhand rights, the last one a 'Hail Mary', to get the job done.

Jeff Malcolm fought 1078 round's he turned pro at 15 years old and was never counted out but was stopped on 3 occasion's once by a cut once by injury and once by Tko while on his feet ready to keep fighting that's in 138 pro fight's Jeff Harding had a great chin also and despite being counted out before I still think Jeff Fenech had a very solid chin mate there could be a pattern here name your son Jeff and he's bound to have good wisker's

Fammo must have had a decent set of whiskers on him.

67 fights and 624 rounds without being stopped.

I think Harada might have knocked him down a few times in their first bout. But Fammo got up and won none the less.

N2 Shape wrote:Honorable mention being a Kiwi Sean Sullivan.

Any idea what Sean is up to these days?

bollocks wrote:

N2 Shape wrote:Honorable mention being a Kiwi Sean Sullivan.

Any idea what Sean is up to these days?

Google searched him, but couldn't find much. Saw he served about 6 months jail back in 2009 though.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10591083

That's a bit of a bummer

Like a Boss wrote:Fammo must have had a decent set of whiskers on him.

67 fights and 624 rounds without being stopped.

I think Harada might have knocked him down a few times in their first bout. But Fammo got up and won none the less.

I think Legra may have decked him at one stage too. I always had the impression with Fammo that his knock downs were attributed more to his balance and backing up rather than actually going down on account of being hurt.

Been a lot of talk in the past year about concussion and its effects on rugby league players past and present. I believe a charity has been set up for former players who fall on hard times. Its hard not to think of Harding in those discussions, that the punishment he took in his career maybe didnt bode well for his future. Possibly wasnt supported medically enough in areas he needed it the most.

Tinnie wrote:

Like a Boss wrote:Fammo must have had a decent set of whiskers on him.

67 fights and 624 rounds without being stopped.

I think Harada might have knocked him down a few times in their first bout. But Fammo got up and won none the less.

I think Legra may have decked him at one stage too. I always had the impression with Fammo that his knock downs were attributed more to his balance and backing up rather than actually going down on account of being hurt.

Been a lot of talk in the past year about concussion and its effects on rugby league players past and present. I believe a charity has been set up for former players who fall on hard times. Its hard not to think of Harding in those discussions, that the punishment he took in his career maybe didnt bode well for his future. Possibly wasnt supported medically enough in areas he needed it the most.

It is as ironic as it is sad that the most brutal sport of all offers its damaged warriors so much less in the way of support than most other sports do.

In the last few years the same issue has come up in the AFL. There are ex players that are now in a bad way due to repeated concussions during their playing days. The powers that be don't want to know about it as it may 'ruin the brand'

Some are more naturally susceptible to becoming punch drunk than others. Wilfredo Benitez is a perfect example...the guy was a defensive genius yet was suffering from dementia before his career had even finished. Jeff Harding took a pile of punches and also paid the price (last I'd heard he'd stopped drinking, which made it all the more worse for him)

Tinnie wrote:Hard to go past Harding... but i'll throw out former Oz/Empire champion George Barnes.... little buzzsaw he was.... never backed down and wasnt stopped until his final bout, just shy of his 35th birthday......also went 15 rounds with Freddie Dawson who had knocked out every decent LW and WW in Australia at the time.

Bernie Hall was the only Aussie to go the distance with Freddie.

George Barnes went the distance, 15 rounds, with Freddie Dawson at the Sydney Sports Ground in 1954.

Harding would be my pick. As far as someone out of left field who took great punishment and just kept on going would be Rocky Katsidis.