Holyfield - Greatest chin in combat sports history?

In my lifetime, it was definitely Holyfield. His chin was so insane he basically walked through Tyson and Foreman punches, two of the hardest hitting people in the history of the sport. He did it as a blown up cruiserweight.

I understand the Hagler votes, he might be #1. But there is an argument for giving it to Holyfield because the guys he was taking punches from were certified killers in the heavyweight division.
 
Injin Chi. Unlike someone like Holyfield he had pretty poor defence and was easy to hit but despite that never saw him hurt.
 
Mosley had a hell of a chin too
 
Margarito also. He took shots from Cotto and Pacquiao and never stopped moving forward, even when his face broke.
 
Good call on Margs. Paul Williams had an amazing chin before it finally cracked against Martinez in their 2nd fight. He literally caught most power shots with his chin. Prime Terible had a great chin as well.

I'll give Sinister's boy Mike McCallum a shout out as well. Dude had a beard
 
Foreman had one hell of a beard too. Even in his late comeback.
 
Boxing: Bernard Hopkins


Reason: Not even the one greatest P4P threat in all sports history could beat his chin: father time.

In combat sports? I was gonna say Jeremy Horn, but I give this one to Hendo.
 
Wow, there's really quite a few guys with a ridiculous ability to get punched in the face and not be hurt. Really hard to pick one who stands out.
 
nac386 said:
Wow, there's really quite a few guys with a ridiculous ability to get punched in the face and not be hurt. Really hard to pick one who stands out.
Click to expand...

Its really crazy how some of them can take that shit.
 
PUO3 said:
Its really crazy how some of them can take that shit.
Click to expand...

Even if you only look at active fighters there are a few that almost seem impervious to punches.

Brandon Rios and Ruslan Provodnikov made their careers off having freak chins. Chavez Jr. did too until it finally got cracked by a light heavyweight.
 
Ruslan seems like he could be a good MMA fighter. His muscle-stump build and ferocious temperament fit MMA better than boxing in some ways. I notice that a lot of wrestlers seem to share his body type, and they have similar neanderthal characteristics. Plus, his chin and boxing would immediately make him a terrifying striker in that sport.
 
nac386 said:
Even if you only look at active fighters there are a few that almost seem impervious to punches.

Brandon Rios and Ruslan Provodnikov made their careers off having freak chins. Chavez Jr. did too until it finally got cracked by a light heavyweight.
Click to expand...

Yessir. Bradley, Abraham, Froch, all great too.
 
BJ Penn, never hurt, never knocked down. Consistently fought guys much bigger than him his entire career.
 
nac386 said:
Ruslan seems like he could be a good MMA fighter. His muscle-stump build and ferocious temperament fit MMA better than boxing in some ways. I notice that a lot of wrestlers seem to share his body type, and they have similar neanderthal characteristics. Plus, his chin and boxing would immediately make him a terrifying striker in that sport.
Click to expand...

I bet he's strong as shit, a lot of times guys with that type of body are ridiculously strong. Daniel Cormier said that Ilir Latifi is the strongest guy he's ever felt and that dude is built like a stump.
 
I'd have to vote Mccall, it is definitely one of the most impressive chins in history. He's faced a wide array of huge punching heavyweights and hasn't been hurt or knocked down by any of them, not even now, way past his prime.

SRR doesn't really get mentioned in these discussion, but he should. His chin was granite and he proved it many times, with very few knockdowns over a very long career fighting anyone within a fighting weight.
 
nac386 said:
Ruslan seems like he could be a good MMA fighter. His muscle-stump build and ferocious temperament fit MMA better than boxing in some ways. I notice that a lot of wrestlers seem to share his body type, and they have similar neanderthal characteristics. Plus, his chin and boxing would immediately make him a terrifying striker in that sport.
Click to expand...

Ruslan Provodnikov vs Chris Algieri in mma who wins?
 
Chuvalo. 93 fights and he took tons of punishment from Patterson, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, etc. He was never knocked down and appears to have no head trauma either (he's been on TV, documentaries, etc. in recent years).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Chuvalo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Black9
Media Is What Max Holloway The Most Badass Combat Sports Moment In History?
2
Replies
23
Views
361
bongwater
B

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,951
Messages
55,456,874
Members
174,787
Latest member
Freddie556

Share this page

Back
Top