Oliver McCall ... Best Chin Ever?

[TysonBomb]

Has never been been knocked down in as a professional, amateur or even in sparring. I've never even noticed him hurt or even staggered or stunned. Even steel chinned Chuvalo was unofficially "knocked down" by Bonavena and Hagler, who is said to have an anatomically thicker skull, was floored once by Juan Roldan and stunned by Hearns. Jake LaMotta who is also credited with a iron chin was knocked down later in his career.

But McCall still holding up as of last year, at over the age of 45.

300+ rounds of sparring with prime Tyson, facing monster punchers such as Lennox Lewis, Bert Cooper, Frank Bruno, Buster Douglas etc. Even Shaq couldn't hurt this guy when they were sparring and Shaq was launching hayemakers into him. He didn't even flinch when he was having his emotional episode and was sobbing when Lewis was right there, bashing his face in. Lewis was firing and McCall didn't even care and didn't even seem to brace for impact. Dude wasn't even ever caught off balance and buckled or dropped or pushed down or anything.

Truly un-knockout-able.

The Atomic Bull ... GOAT chin

[rightsideup]

He no doubt is right up there.

[taansend]

Great thread. Off the top of my head I cannot think of another boxer with a better chin although I am a tad drunk.

Although I did hear he was almost put to sleep fighting Henry Akinwande.

[jackson8]

Great thread. Off the top of my head I cannot think of another boxer with a better chin although I am a tad drunk.

Although I did hear he was almost put to sleep fighting Henry Akinwande.

Maybe he fell asleep fighting Akinwande, thats possible.

[Rip Chudd]

Maybe he fell asleep fighting Akinwande, thats possible.

[SBleeder]

Amongst heavyweights, he's up there at the top. But there are several fighters who come to mind at other weight classes with harder chins in my opinion. Hagler's knockdown, for instance, had very little to do with his chin; it's debatable as to whether it should have been scored as a knockdown at all.

Also, Buster Douglas tagged McCall pretty good a few times in their fight. McCall never went down but he certainly showed the effects of being hit on many occasions. IMO that was Douglas' best performance ever- even better than when he beat Tyson.

[Sugarj]

McCall gets my vote!

[MotorCityJaguar]

Juan Laporte?
He's never been knocked down and he fought some very good punchers like Salvador Sanchez, Rocky Lockridge, Eusebio Pedrosa, Wilfredo Gomez, Barry McGuigan, Julio Cesar Chavez, John John Molina, Azumah Nelson, Kotsya Tszyu and at the age of 40 (coming from a 4 years retirament) a big guy and good puncher like Teddy Reid

[mattf]

i think vitali klitschko deserves a mention just for the fact that the uppercut lewis hit him with would of knocked just about anyone out cold....... that said, he hasnt been tagged on the chin in about 10 years so its hard to say how good his chin really is........

[dan_cov]

Great post, for me yes he has the best chin ever.

The thing that gets me is he never seems to as much have his head snapped back, its like punches just bounce off him. His chin is the very definition of granite!