By Larry Goldberg
I'll tell you what's interesting. I started to think about fighters who were very big punchers and wondering how many of them, in addition to that natural wallop, also had chins of iron. If you know anything about boxing, it would seem logical that the two might not go together, since a fighter who carried around a big punch would normally be a little tighter and more tense then a boxer who was looser and fought in a more relaxed state. The more tense you are, the more you are going to be affected by hard blows.
But you would also figure that any big banger with a sensational chin would be pretty near indestructible. But there are really not many we can identify.
I thought of Rocky Marciano, who was a very strong puncher, especially for his size; after all, as a relatively small heavyweight, he had enough pop to knock out people like Jersey Joe Walcott with one punch. He could hit with both hands, and if he didn't take his opponent out of there right away, he could chop him down like a tree over a short period of time.
But who else? when you go down the list of champions throughout history, almost all of them come up a little short in one department or the other. For example, former middleweight champion Marvin Hagler, while possessing one of the great chins in history, was a serviceable but not sensational puncher. He was accurate and great at wearing people down, but did not have that huge KO power.
One of the few guys we come up with such a search is Ray Mercer, who for a time held the WBO heavyweight championship. Mercer hit hard enough - in fact, he was almost the equal of Lennox Lewis and George Foreman while all three were active and hovering near the top. And one thing that has never been in doubt is the strength of Mercer's chin - very rarely was he ever hurt in a fight.
The big problem with Mercer, as I suspect it is with most guys who fit the prescription we were looking to fill, is that he couldn't handle the "in betweens." He just couldn't deal with boxer-types, not even a little bit. Larry Holmes, at age 45, took him to school like he was an amateur. Upon seeing that, one would be surprised that Mercer was actually an Olympic gold medalist, inasmuch as in the amateur ranks boxers seem to be rewarded a lot more than punchers.
It just goes to show 'ya - there's more to this game than simply going out there and knocking the other guy senseless.
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by: Cheap Boxing
