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CHIN
Oscar de la Hoya has been down four times in his career. The little-known Narcisco Valenzuela caught him with a flash knockdown in the opening round of their October 1993 bout, and Georgio Campanella did the same thing seven months later.
Each time, Oscar rose up off the canvas to hand his opponent a savage beating, as if he was offended that they caught him on the chin. But that was back in the day when de la Hoya was killing himself to make weight, so weak legs from dehydration or not getting enough food in the week leading up to the fight could have played a part in those knockdowns.
A flash knockdown in his epic with Ike Quartey in 1999 could be chalked up to recklessness as he moved in for the kill after putting ‘Bazooka’ on the canvas seconds earlier.
None of those things impacted his next trip to the canvas.
On September 18, 2004, Hopkins blasted de la Hoya with a paralyzing left hook to the liver. The Golden Boy went down, rolled around on the canvas, pounded his fists into the floor, but never got up. It was a sudden end to what was an extremely competitive fight through the eight previous rounds.
Shots to the body certainly have nothing to do with a fighter’s chin, but a knockout loss is always worth noting, and “chin” really means a guy’s ability to absorb punches, not just his ability to absorb them on his jaw. I don’t put anything into that loss in terms of de la Hoya’s ability to absorb punches because all the sit ups in the world cannot prepare someone for a perfectly placed liver shot.
To be perfectly honest, I have no clue if Mayweather has a sturdy chin – I’m not sure anyone knows. Neither Castillo nor Corrales, guys with bone-jarring left hooks, ever landed a full-fledged power shot on the chin. Judah snuck a left hand between his defenses last year that seemed to get Floyd’s attention, but it didn’t put him on wobbly legs or anything.
In 37 fights, nobody has been able to score a legitimate knockdown against Mayweather. His only official trip to the canvas occurred six years ago. After landing an overhand right high on Carlos Hernandez’s head, Mayweather turned, instantly bent down and grimaced in pain, touching the canvas with his right hand in the process. Referee Dale Grable ruled a knockdown in favor of Hernandez, even though the warrior from El Salvador didn’t land a punch in the sequence.
Can Mayweather take Oscar’s shots on Saturday night? Who knows? Then again, one’s chin isn’t a factor if his opponent can’t find it.
Mayweather gets the nod here by virtue of the fact that he’s never been down, whether that means he actually has the better chin and can take shots from a physically bigger man remains to be seen.
Advantage: Mayweather.
CHIN
Oscar de la Hoya has been down four times in his career. The little-known Narcisco Valenzuela caught him with a flash knockdown in the opening round of their October 1993 bout, and Georgio Campanella did the same thing seven months later.
Each time, Oscar rose up off the canvas to hand his opponent a savage beating, as if he was offended that they caught him on the chin. But that was back in the day when de la Hoya was killing himself to make weight, so weak legs from dehydration or not getting enough food in the week leading up to the fight could have played a part in those knockdowns.
A flash knockdown in his epic with Ike Quartey in 1999 could be chalked up to recklessness as he moved in for the kill after putting ‘Bazooka’ on the canvas seconds earlier.
None of those things impacted his next trip to the canvas.
On September 18, 2004, Hopkins blasted de la Hoya with a paralyzing left hook to the liver. The Golden Boy went down, rolled around on the canvas, pounded his fists into the floor, but never got up. It was a sudden end to what was an extremely competitive fight through the eight previous rounds.
Shots to the body certainly have nothing to do with a fighter’s chin, but a knockout loss is always worth noting, and “chin” really means a guy’s ability to absorb punches, not just his ability to absorb them on his jaw. I don’t put anything into that loss in terms of de la Hoya’s ability to absorb punches because all the sit ups in the world cannot prepare someone for a perfectly placed liver shot.
To be perfectly honest, I have no clue if Mayweather has a sturdy chin – I’m not sure anyone knows. Neither Castillo nor Corrales, guys with bone-jarring left hooks, ever landed a full-fledged power shot on the chin. Judah snuck a left hand between his defenses last year that seemed to get Floyd’s attention, but it didn’t put him on wobbly legs or anything.
In 37 fights, nobody has been able to score a legitimate knockdown against Mayweather. His only official trip to the canvas occurred six years ago. After landing an overhand right high on Carlos Hernandez’s head, Mayweather turned, instantly bent down and grimaced in pain, touching the canvas with his right hand in the process. Referee Dale Grable ruled a knockdown in favor of Hernandez, even though the warrior from El Salvador didn’t land a punch in the sequence.
Can Mayweather take Oscar’s shots on Saturday night? Who knows? Then again, one’s chin isn’t a factor if his opponent can’t find it.
Mayweather gets the nod here by virtue of the fact that he’s never been down, whether that means he actually has the better chin and can take shots from a physically bigger man remains to be seen.
Advantage: Mayweather.
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