BoxRec

Who had the best chin in heavyweight history? I mean, the toughest heavyweight to beat him by knockout.

Oliver McCall and Vitali Klitschko are the only 2 Heavyweight Champions who've never been floored.. I've never seen McCall staggered or blink... He was solid as Hell.. He was called "The Atomic Bull" and punched Lennox Lewis out with a shot.. He was a mental case like Tyson Fury and Buster Douglas... He couldn't hold it together when he got to the top of the mountain.. Maybe these guys think it was a accident ... and they don't belong on top.

Possibly Nicolai Valuev has also never been floored. But he refused to fight the Klitschkos and he was terrible. I don't think his chin was that great. He just avoided the most dangerous Heavyweights and looked for the Monte Barrett's of the world.

Chuvalo was stopped early by Frazier and Foreman, so I don't think his resistance was among the best.. It was good...not fabulous.

Oliver McCall

And though he was stopped once by an unheralded opponent I'd nominate Randall "Texx" Cobb. He took some horrendous shots and kept on going.

gilgamesh wrote:Oliver McCall

And though he was stopped once by an unheralded opponent I'd nominate Randall "Texx" Cobb. He took some horrendous shots and kept on going.

Wasn't there rumours that Cobb took a dive against Dee Collier?

Controversial wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:Oliver McCall

And though he was stopped once by an unheralded opponent I'd nominate Randall "Texx" Cobb. He took some horrendous shots and kept on going.

Wasn't there rumours that Cobb took a dive against Dee Collier?

I wouldn't doubt it. Just looking at his record, and the people who's shots he took. It's hard to believe a guy like Collier could stop him in 1.

Chuvalo ... with Ali a close second.

Kalan wrote:Possibly Nicolai Valuev has also never been floored. But he refused to fight the Klitschkos and he was terrible. I don't think his chin was that great. He just avoided the most dangerous Heavyweights and looked for the Monte Barrett's of the world.

Chuvalo was stopped early by Frazier and Foreman, so I don't think his resistance was among the best.. It was good...not fabulous.

Valuev was hurt by Monte Barrett.

Best answer is James Jeffries ( Not listed in the poll ) or Vitali Klitschko.

Chuvalo and McCall for me. Valuev was sent all wobbly by haye.

Oliver McCall for me. Ray Mercer was particularly solid too

James Jeffries should be on the list.

Jim Jeffries and Tex Cobb...

As for Dee Collier... He was 6'5" and like 260 pounds, and blew away (also) Monte Masters, Alex Garcia, and went the distance with James Buster Douglas and Orlin Norris... His 13-9 record is deceptive, and his only stoppage loss was to Bash Ali. I used to believe the dive rumors about the Cobb fight, but Tex was dropped four times in less than two minutes time... And considering this was the time period which the losses started piling up for Cobb as well as his cocaine problem, I can believe it was legitimate.

Kalan wrote:Possibly Nicolai Valuev has also never been floored. But he refused to fight the Klitschkos and he was terrible. I don't think his chin was that great. He just avoided the most dangerous Heavyweights and looked for the Monte Barrett's of the world.

Chuvalo was stopped early by Frazier and Foreman, so I don't think his resistance was among the best.. It was good...not fabulous.

Haye had valuev dancing when they fought. Sure Haye was a big puncher, but i always consider haye a murderous puncher at cruiser, big puncher at heavy but in all time conversations, his power isn't in the conversation.

I went chuvalo

I'm going to go with Holyfield.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I'm going to go with Holyfield.

In terms of being able to eat shots and fire back clear eyed, I'd agree.

John Ruiz seriously rocked Valuev and arguably shouldve been credited with a knockdown. JF Bergeron and Gerald Nobles also rocked him.

dr_devious wrote:Oliver McCall for me. Ray Mercer was particularly solid too

Those 2 for sure as they were in with some big punchers. Especially Mercer...

writehooks wrote:Chuvalo ... with Ali a close second.

Ali went down hard from weak hitters like Sonny Banks and Henry Cooper who were little more than Light Heavyweights... I say weak because look at their KO ratios and who they fought... Chuvalo didn't last long with hard punchers Frazier or Foreman. If he met some of the killers around today he'd get obliterated even faster. Chuvalo was pulled out in those fights because he was getting murdered...

George Chuvalo, although Oliver McCall should be on the list & is arguably just as, if not even more durable.

Ali.

Fought a generation and a half of top heavies.

Only down 3 times legitimately and 2 of those knockdowns were when he was young and didn't have the balance he developed with time.

Chuvalo, though, was incredible. So he was stopped by Frazier and Foreman. So? He never went down in either fight and was hit with a million head shots.

ALI THE KING

SenorPipino wrote:Ali.

Fought a generation and a half of top heavies.

Only down 3 times legitimately and 2 of those knockdowns were when he was young and didn't have the balance he developed with time.

Chuvalo, though, was incredible. So he was stopped by Frazier and Foreman. So? He never went down in either fight and was hit with a million head shots.

ONLY 3 times???? ... How many times was Vitali Klitschko down??? ... And he never fought anyone as light as the 3 guys who decked Ali.

SenorPipino wrote:Ali.

Fought a generation and a half of top heavies.

Only down 3 times legitimately and 2 of those knockdowns were when he was young and didn't have the balance he developed with time.

Chuvalo, though, was incredible. So he was stopped by Frazier and Foreman. So? He never went down in either fight and was hit with a million head shots.

It's hard to say. Ali would have to be up there. He faced the hardest hitting fighters and took it. Chuvalo would have to be up there as well. He was past it when he fought Frazier and Foreman anyway.
Cobb, McCall, Jeffries, Liston are possibilities. Marcfiano, Holmes, Holyfield, and Baer probably aren't that far behind.

There are some guys who were rarely hurt but never fought a huge puncher. We simply don't know if they could take it against t he hardest punchers.
There are also probably ordinary fighters that happened to have a great chin that nobody thinks about.

K, we're talking about a guy who fought the encyclopedia of heavyweight boxing in his era.

Only stopped in his corner once at the end of the line.

You seem to want to judge it solely on stats. Look at the opposition. How many HOF fighters did Klitschko fight? Maybe 1.

It's insane to think that a great chin is based strictly on the times a fighter has been down. Competition---and the quality of it---is far more important.

Vitali's chin was very good. But he never tangled with a Liston, Frazier thrice, Shavers, Foreman, Lyle. Just Lewis when the Brit was slipping and at the end.

If Klitschko had fought the army of punching legends that Ali faced----and he withstood every explosive hook and devastating right---then you could consider his chin as possibly the GOAT.

But you live in the realm of nothing but speculation. Maybe Klit could have survived the power of the Ali opposition.
But we don't know because he didn't have to face them.

Ali proved what was in his chin. Klitschko's chin was never truly tested by greatness.