Greatest Chinny fighter.

Following on from a comment by Alma - regarding Herbie Hide and his chin in the cruiserweight vs KBros thread.

Who do you think was/were the greatest fighter/s with a poor chin?

Thomas Hearns - Springs to mind - fantastic boxer, speed, power, skill, all he possessed in abundance - All he was missing was a solid chin and we might be talking about him as top 10 p4p.

Floyd Patterson probably falls into the category of chinny and whilst he is not out of the upper echelons of heavies is a a decent and legitimate champion at the weight and a fine fighter.

I think he should stuck to light heavy - Probably be talking about him as a nailed on atg rather than a good heavy.

Almost certainly shah, worth remembering he pushed a decent light heavy in Maxim close when little but a noivce, no doubt with maturity he would have established himself as a very fine light heavy but as is the case now the money is at heavy. What goes for Floyd at light heavy then is probably true of Haye at cruiser now but am guessing Haye has made a damned sight more as a pretty ordinary heavy than he ever would as a great cruiser.

Point of pedantry here ( I heard Jeremy Paxman say that once ,and have decided to turn that into a catchphrase), wasn't Tommy Hearns' issue his Twiglet legs rather than his chin? Bruno for example famously had a bit of a glass chin, I think there is a distinction....?

Def Hearns for me, if he had Hagler's chin he'd be Top 10 p4p.

andygf wrote:Point of pedantry here ( I heard Jeremy Paxman say that once ,and have decided to turn that into a catchphrase), wasn't Tommy Hearns' issue his Twiglet legs rather than his chin? Bruno for example famously had a bit of a glass chin, I think there is a distinction....?

Dont think Bruno had a bad chin, just no survival instinct whatsoever.

Agreed, he didnt know how to wrestle nor how to avoid - I imagine he would have won a fair few more fights - especially the Terrible tim one if he just knew how to hold on and buy himself time. Just too much physical and not enough in the brain from him. Would have made a frightening street fighter though.

Bruno could take a punch, may be wrong but wasn't it only Tyson who knocked him off his feet?

I'd also be tempted to go for Patterson, he was a truly exceptional fighter, although it depends on how you define "chinny". For my money, someone who is considered chinny is someone who is easy to rattle and/or KO. After watching most of Patterson's fights, the majority of his KDs were flash knockdowns, he usually got up quickly and went on to win the fight. It was only really Liston who blew him away, and so for 99.9% of the time, he was very hard to KO.

Also throw in Hearns, WK and Lewis, who I always felt had a suspect chin.

Wlad, Ortiz, and my fave Judah

oh and Golota

Don't think Lewis is chinny, has taken enough flush shots for him to be classed with a pretty decent chin, only 2 he's been KOed with are shots he didnt see coming, at HW if you take shots you don't see you're gone.

marquez is my favourite chinny fighter. fantastic boxer but not the hardest to floor

JMM? Not sure depends what you define as chinny, been floored loads but no ones been able to KO to be fair.

I once said Tommy Hearns with a chin would be the greatest fighter ever...

So for me it's him by a mile..

Marquez chinny can't see it myself,got caught cold by Manny in their first fight and dropped by Pbf and Kastidas,but in a 60 fight career no way is he chinny.

Marquez's recuperative powers which are up there with Holmes mean I wouldn't consider him chinny nor would I say Lewis was overly chinny.

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Marquez's recuperative powers which are up there with Holmes mean I wouldn't consider him chinny nor would I say Lewis was overly chinny.

Totally agree, Calzaghe has gone down a few times but you would never question his chin, you get hit flush by a big puncher somethings got to give Holmes is a great example that you've given.

Terry Norris..Is another superb technician that had dodgy whiskers!!!!

Have to agree that its Hearns by a mile. Terry Norris is also a great shout.

Hearns on his day would beat any fighter between WW and MW.......but for his chin. I recall his fight with James Kinchen where he held onto him like he was holding his wife.

Roy Jones is another

I've always thought Patterson was just a small guy fighting big guys than chinny.

It's definitely Hearns for my money. I'm not sure how he ever could've lost with a solid chin, unless he boxed with less brilliance because he knew he could afford to get hit.

Depends what you consider to be a weak chin because it wasn't as if Hearns was knocked out by weak punchers.

Damn I thought I would get in Terry Norris first! He was floored by a jab by Simon Brown I think but did outbox him in the rematch.

Wladimir Klitschko goes down as the best with a glass jaw imo.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:Wladimir Klitschko goes down as the best with a glass jaw imo.

Better than Hearns?

Bruno yeah, I always smiled when seeing him take a beating. The problem with Bruno is that he wasn't all that good.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:Wladimir Klitschko goes down as the best with a glass jaw imo.

Like Bruno, okay I haven't seen the Purrity and Brewster fights but as far as I'm aware Dr Steelhammer doesn't really have that bad a chin. He took some mighty wallops against Sanders, not just one wallop but quite a few and was counted out rather than sparked. Just like Bruno it's not the chin that's the problem it's the ability to survive. Against Sanders WK showed no ability to survive whatsoever but the fact is he didn't get banged out with a single shot so his chin's not that bad.

Patterson cheekily asserted, "If I have the record for being knocked down the most, I must also have the record for getting back up again", that's how I think of him, his positives outweighing his negatives.Heartening to see the above posters giving him his due.
As for Hearns, let's not forget that he won the WBC light heavyweight crown,his greatness/legacy is not much diminshed for his weakness. Won four titles...
Maybe I was thinking of Bruno because recently I read this by Ken Gorman about the McCall fight;
"..In the last round in particular,Bruno, his right eye swelling ,was battered without restraint as McCall summoned all the energy he had left for one furious last-gasp charge.Several times it seemed he was buckling,just as he had three times before.But thankfully,McCall was no Lewis or Tyson,or even a Witherspoon.And Bruno had learnt that the art of survival is as vital as any destructive qualities in the ring.He grabbed the champion round the waste,clutched him by his head,hugged him,did anything for temporary respite from the storm raging around him.Survive he did,to be mobbed by a ring invasion led by stablemates Nigel Benn and Naseen Hamed."
It was a poor fight, but a great night nonetheless!

A quick namecheck for Dennis Andries here, who sometimes gets mentioned in "best British boxers who we've forgotten" articles.
From the same author, here is an account of of Andries v Hearns,with Dennis defending his WBC light-heavy belt.

" (Round Three)..suddenly,he unleashed two ferocious rights which sent the champion crashing to the floor. ' He showed how strong he was,by getting up.A lot of guys wouldn't have beaten the count', said Hearns.
Round six,a lightning right hook sent Andries tumbling for the second time in the fight.Although he climbed unsteadily to his feet as the count reached eight,he was clearly in distress.He was quickly bundled over again,then slipped over without a punch being thrown.But Andries, in one of the most courageous displays of sheer bloody-minded defiance ever produced by a British fighter,was up yet again,grabbing Hearns and doing anything to prevent the challenger from striking again. 'He was so strong, that I could take nothing for granted' ,said Hearns.' My mind was telling me to stay in there,to stay focused and be patient.Dennis made me fight!He made me use my head as well as my hands.'
In Round Nine ,he unleashed another crunching overhand right,sending Andries crashing to the floor once more.This time the champion, who by this stage must have been fighting on instinct alone, somersalted straight back up.Hearns was taken completely by surprise as his foe suddenly lunged at him and ,as they wrestled,they both stumbled to the canvas.
Andries had one more shock for him in round ten, as he clipped Hearns with a sharp left that had Hearns on his backside.Hearns however was up before the count started and rained down punched on Andries ,who now had nothing left.He went down once, hauled himself up-and promptly collapsed again before another punch could be thrown.Even the hard-nosed audience of Detroit,America's toughest city, beseeched the referee to end the massacre.As Dennis Andries picked himself up one last time and in his barely conscious state headed unsteadily to the neutral corner,his defence was finally ended.
Tommy Hearns had sympathy for the deposed champion.'He was a brave,brave man.I'm proud to think he later became my friend.'

This thread seemed an apt opportunity to waffle on, hope you don't mind!

The Hackney Rock, who took his WBC belt to a TV interview in a plastic bag on the bus!

seen the title for this and the first fighter i thought was RJJ. the problem being was in his prime he was so quick he was so hard to hit. when he slowed down it began to show that his chin is weak, but had had his punch resistance gone aswell or just speed?

enzo has been on the end of some brutal knock outs, dont know whether this is because his chin or just being so dam easy to hit. but he certainly isnt the best chinny fighter

Julian Jackson another one. Could give a hefty wallop but couldn't handle being digged back. I think he has around 5 losses (without checking boxrec) all or most by KO.