By Dan Morley
THE ability to take a punch can’t be taught. Fighters can be blessed with an iron chin or cursed with a glass chin. Across the course of history, many of the greatest fighters of all time have relied on their punch resistance to overcome adversity and remain among the top of the boxing world.
Spectators have been awestruck by the speed, IQ, and power of many of history’s most technically superior boxers, but equally, there is something to behold when witnessing a punch that should obliterate anyone it lands on being shaken off so nonchalantly.
Recent history tells us this: with the viral responses of disbelief on social media, reacting to Gennady Golovkin effortlessly walking through a missile right hand from Canelo Alvarez. Like all in boxing, there are levels to everything and the ability to take a shot is the same. In contrast, that same punch had previously decimated James Kirkland and Amir Khan in successive KOs of the year.
So, with that in mind, I’ve highlighted 20 standout fighters who possessed what I consider to be the most durable chins in history. This list requires extensive footage of each fighter to exist, which rules out many of history’s old-school brawlers, such as Harry Greb and Jack Britton, to name a few. These were the men who went through 100s of 15 and 20-round slugfests without being stopped.
In part one of a three-part series, let’s break down the first selection of fighters who were almost impossible to put a dent in.
20) Canelo Alvarez – the chin that stands up to brutal punishment
As it stands, the Mexican Superstar has never been dropped, across a 66-fight career spanning 20 years. Whilst a slippery defence and an instinctive ability to ride shots has allowed Canelo to take sting out of many of the shots he’s absorbed, he’s still taken enough flush, without really being budged. From memory, he’s only been troubled twice, briefly by Golovkin in their second fight and notably wobbled as a teenager against Jose Miguel Cotto, two fights in which he’d come back to win.
Canelo’s consistent durability is more impressive considering the amount of top fighters he’s faced from 154lbs – 175lbs.
Golovkin and Kovalev were two of the most formidable knockout artists of their generation. Bivol was far bigger in size and the likes of Jacobs, Munguia, Kirkland and Cotto all had powerful fists.
Munguia gave his all against Canelo but it wasn’t enough.
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
19) Chris Eubank – the super-middleweight king with a granite beard
One of Britain’s toughest fighters, Eubank would only ever be stopped once across 52 fights by the heavy-handed Carl Thompson, who even stopped future heavyweight champion David Haye. His eccentricity somewhat overshadows the grit he possessed within, but all you need to do is watch his battles with legendary fighters like Steve Collins and Nigel Benn to see that Eubank was extraordinary.
He took Joe Calzaghe all the way, back before the Welshmen would develop crippling hand problems and had stopped all but one of his opposition. The onslaught Eubank overcame against the very highly rated Michael Watson, to so tragically turn the fight in his favour, was perhaps the most dramatic showing of his toughness.
Steve Collins attacks Chris Eubank during their fight on September 9, 1995 (Holly Stein/ALLSPORT)
18) Julio Cesar Chavez – the iron man described by Mike Tyson as one of the best of his generation
Chavez never once took a backwards step. In his prime, the highly skilled, relentless Mexican was as close to an immovable object as boxing had seen. Across 13 peak years of unprecedented volume and dominance in the modern era, he would remain both unbeaten and on his feet, before tasting the canvas for the first time against Frankie Randall in his 91st fight.
Similarly to Canelo, Chavez was masterful defensively, but with such an aggressive style, he would inevitably absorb power punches. Yet, against notable punchers, such as Edwin Rosario, they seemed to only fuel his malicious intensity after bouncing off his skull.
17) David Tua – New Zealander left hook specialist stood up to the heaviest hitters
Considering the stacked era Tua fought in and his small, compact stature, it really is staggering to consider that he only ever hit the deck once in a 59-fight career where he would never be stopped. Some of this may be down to his own bone-crushing power, stopping opponents before they had the chance to land their own bombs back.
Yet Tua still absorbed all that Lennox Lewis threw at him, breaking the world record for the number of punches thrown in a heavyweight fight against the dangerously explosive Ike Ibeabuchi in a classic! Add in fights against Michael Moorer, John Ruiz, and Hasim Rahman, and Tua’s chin held up against many of the top world champions of one of the heavyweight division’s best eras.
David Tua (Al Bello /Allsport)
16) James Toney – finding the chin of one of the greatest defensive masters was a challenge in itself
James Toney is a freakish talent. A man who loved to fight up close yet was never really ever hit clean all the way from middleweight world honours to heavyweight title fights. This was all down to Toney’s relaxed defence that lent itself perfectly to sharp, spiteful combinations up close. From facing off against a primed Roy Jones Jr and Michael Nunn up to fearsome heavyweight punchers Evander Holyfield, Samuel Peter and John Ruiz, Toney was never stopped in 92 fights.
Even as a shell of his former self, he had enough to avoid the power of punchers like Lucas Browne and Denis Lebedev. Toney recovered from all three knockdowns in his career, which came against Jones Jr, Reggie Johnson and Samuel Peter.
Roy Jones in his prime. Photo: Holly Stein/Allsport
15) George Foreman – this comeback king absorbed ridiculous levels of punches
Whilst George Foreman’s hellacious haymakers have cemented their place in boxing history, I have always felt they overshadowed the amount of punishment the big man could withstand. In 81 fights across two careers in his 20s and 40s, arguably the two toughest eras in heavyweight history, big George was only ever stopped once. That stoppage, against Muhammad Ali in the iconic ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, was more down to exhaustion than his punch resistance.
George mimicked the Terminator in certain instances, especially in his older years when continuously marching through the power punches of fighters like Tommy Morrison, Evander Holyfield, and Michael Moorer. While Ron Lyle was able to put George down temporarily in the most brilliant heavyweight fight of the 1970s, Foreman’s remarkable recuperation abilities and unbreakable will dragged him through the unforgettable Yo-Yo fight.
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 15: Heavyweight Boxing: George Foreman (R) in action, throwing punch vs George Cooney (L) at Convention Center, Cooney’s final fight as professional, Atlantic City, NJ 1/15/1990 (Photo by John Iacono/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X39332 TK1)
14) Micky Ward – ageless ‘Irish’ warrior could never quit shipping shots
Micky Ward personifies toughness. Not only because of his fighting style but also his persistence to overcome many setbacks until the Arturo Gatti fights. Micky had carved out an extremely gruelling 48-fight career before he finally earned any real money against his greatest rival. Throughout those years of relative obscurity, Ward engaged in one of the most brutal fights you could ever wish to see, the 2001 Fight of the Year winner against Emmanuel Augustus.
Ward’s inconceivable comeback victory against Alfonso Sanchez came drastically after he endured a beating so severe that the commentators, who would later come to worship Micky, berated him and consistently criticised the fight’s continuation. Yet it’s the three wars with Gatti, considered the most violent trilogy in boxing history, that cement Ward’s legacy as one of boxing’s gutsiest warriors. Across 51 fights, including some of boxing’s most vicious, Ward was only ever stopped once, on cuts.
Marty Rosengarten
Keep an eye out for Part Two coming soon…