"KO-proof" Fighters

[young_robbed]

James Toney hasnt exactly been easy to KO, After over 80 fights from middle to Heavyweight and against all sorts of heavy punchers he still hasnt been stopped, Great chin and defence combo

even at middle do you thin he's koproof

[BigStereotype]

even at middle do you thin he's koproof

I would say especially at middle. Even with a spare tire, he ate Holyfield's best punches like candy. Toney's got a hell of a chin and excellent defense. As hard to KO as anyone in history.

[young_robbed]

I would say especially at middle. Even with a spare tire, he ate Holyfield's best punches like candy. Toney's got a hell of a chin and excellent defense. As hard to KO as anyone in history.

I wouldn't say like candy since holy stunned him a couple times and this was a shot holyfield.

i think at middleweight hearns and robinson stop him

[BigStereotype]

I wouldn't say like candy since holy stunned him a couple times and this was a shot holyfield.

i think at middleweight hearns and robinson stop him

He still had a bit of a punch and he buckled him once with a perfectly clean left hook on the chin. Other than that, Toney was absolutely fine. And you've gotta remember, he was basically a fat SMW. I don't think Hearns stops him because Toney takes away his right, but if Robinson lands a couple of those left hooks, he could put Toney away. I wouldn't bet on it, though.

[SCtrojansbaby]

James Toney

[The Surgeon]

d

I wouldn't say like candy since holy stunned him a couple times and this was a shot holyfield.

i think at middleweight hearns and robinson stop him

I think he buzzed him once but then im going off memory and Evander hurt alot of big HW's, he could punch. I thought Toney handled the shots well and the heavy hits of Sam Peter, Hasim Rahman and others. He is after all just a fat lazy little guy posing as a HW. His defence wasnt as good as it was by that time tho so he was taking shots he wouldnt have before.

Yeah i think at MW too, like i initially said ANYBODY can be KO'd, but Toney is about as unlikely to as ur LaMotta's of the world due to chin, Defence and toughness. I

[BennyST]

Who are the guys that in their primes would be next to impossible for anybody, regardless of class or power, to KO? James Toney and Pernell Whitaker spring to mind with their awesome defense and really, really sturdy chins.

Good list, but try telling Hearns that Duran is KO proof. I'm not saying "KO proof unless they meet the wrong style" I just mean no way is this guy getting KO'd against anybody.

Clottey is definitely KO proof. He's got a solid defense and a really, really good chin. I've never even seen him hurt and he's fought some pretty good punchers and his low output means he's taking some serious leather coming back.

It's funny, but Duran is the single reason why I now realise that no one in the entire history of boxing is KO proof. They just didn't meet the guy who could do it. Duran did.

Before (especially before in his prime from 118 to 147) and after Hearns (until he was like 55 years old fighting the middleweight champion and basically gave up), he was considered impossible to hurt or knock out...just like Mayweather today, Toney, LaMotta etc etc. Though apart from Toney they were never fighting guys that had a half a foot or so, a decade more youth and started about ten divisions higher than where Duran did.

However, he met a guy who was literally about a foot taller, in his prime, younger, faster, and who coincidentally just happened to be arguably the hardest puncher in the history of the game with the single most brutal right hand ever.

Without that one fight, he would also be at the top of these 'impossible to KO lists' but because he met the one single guy who had the right style, at the right time and division, with the physical traits to do it he was knocked out. Otherwise no one, and that included many ATG's and legends that were much, much bigger, were monstrous hitters etc, was ever able to get close until he was an old man and he still wasn't knocked out, he just gave up.

Every single fighter in history can be knocked out. The guys who weren't and were much harder to knock out than others just never met the right fighter to do it.

One thing I know for a fact: if the right hand that hit Duran hit Mayweather, Whitaker, Clottey or even LaMotta, Toney or ****ing Tex Cobb, they are going down and staying that way. Without the one fight (and before the age of 238), Toney in his career was knocked down and hurt worse than Duran was in his respective career. Mayweather, although never knocked down, has been hurt more and wobbled worse. They all just have to meet the right guy. For Duran, Hearns was that single guy, which is fascinating because at that time (ie not completely shot, old and at 154) and before then he may have been the one single fighter in history to have been able to do that.

[BennyST]

I would say especially at middle. Even with a spare tire, he ate Holyfield's best punches like candy. Toney's got a hell of a chin and excellent defense. As hard to KO as anyone in history.

He was hurt the worst he's ever been in his career at middleweight. Dropped bad and very hurt, though he got through it well, by Reggie Johnson.

[New England]

everybody can be knocked out


that being said i'll list on the ATG durability list the ridiculously great harry greb


was knocked out once by a middleweight very early in his career. greb weighed 142 on a same day weigh in.


and he was stopped when his arm was broken in another fight early in his career


if he got hurt he got through it because of his speed and willingness to break the rules

dude was close to impossible to kayo in his prime

[CarlosG815]

Muhammad Ali is the only example I can think of. He is a fighter who from the beginning of his career, to the bitter end when he was washed up and shot, continued to fight the greatest fighters the world had to offer. Even in his old age, he was never knocked out. He is mentally the strongest fighter I have ever seen and is the only fighter in history that I can think of that is "KO Proof."