Who could have been great (or greater) if they hadn't got glass jaws?

[apollack]

glass jaw

These are all good picks.

The guy who comes to my mind is Mark Breland.

I also think Terry Norris had his career derailed by a weak chin.

[duffgun]

Floyd patterson
Bruno big problem was also his rubbish stamina

[Nacho_Analstain]

Naseem Hamed, His mouth ruined his career.

his mouth made him who he was,his career was never ruined,he had a fantastic career

[Verstyle]

the saddest fight cause of a weak chin is bruno vs.lennox. bruno was winning all the way up to the 6th round(i think) when lennox caught him good and tkoed him

[jabsRstiff]

Guys like Julian Jackson & earnie Shavers.....I don't think they had weak chins, as much as I think they were overly committed (good for the fans!) to taking guys out. This left them vulnerable to the biggest of punches...
The weakest-chinned guy I know of, was Carl "The Truth" Williams. He was a very big guy (for the 80's), who had a lot of skills. But, he collapsed when he was reached.

[butterfly1964]

the saddest fight cause of a weak chin is bruno vs.lennox. bruno was winning all the way up to the 6th round(i think) when lennox caught him good and tkoed him

Yeah, I was watching that fight yesterday. Bruno won every round except the sixth, and in the beginning of the seventh it looked as if Bruno was putting the finishing touches, but how Lewis landed that hook I don't know. It was a great comeback, though.

[hemichromis]

Floyd patterson
Bruno big problem was also his rubbish stamina

i never saw evidence of his 'stamina problem'. iT was more opf a rumour brought on by his bodybuilder physique. he was a very good boxer with alot of power and better speed than he was given credit for.

[QueensburyRules]

There many that come to mind. Tippy Larkin who I knew very well and I gave him his Eulogy when he passed away comes to mind. He was also a very good friend of my wife and I.

When I asked Ike Williams, who was the best pure boxer he ever fought, he said without a doubt, it was Tippy Larkin. I said, you KO'ed him in 4 rounds. He said, yea, BUT i the 1st 3, he gave me a boxing lesson.

He lost a 10 rounder to Jackie Kid Berg when he injuryed his right hand in the 1st round. All the other Decision losses were early in his career.

He came close to shutting out Billy Graham in 1947. Here's the scoring and what they said:
Scoring in rounds: 7-2-1, 8-2, 9-1
Larkin appeared to lose the 1st round, but then clearly outboxed Graham the rest of the way. New York Times

All the rest of his losses were by knockouts!

- -Always count on our 'enry to deliver superior historical boxing content!

[Rusty Tromboni]

I ask this because the chin/jaw is the only thing a fighter has no control over.
You can work on your speed,power,tactics but you can't toughen up your jaw.

Bruno would have become champ he may have beaten lennox lewis and may have beaten a prime tyson, he certainly would have beaten pinklon thomas and tim witherspoon. unfortunately his chin was an OFF switch, one clean shot and he fel asleep.

Hearns was a great anyway but if he had even an average chin i would say he would have been the best fighter p4p of all time


Who else??

Bruno was a headcase, not chinny. The right hands Timmy hit him with would make most dude's heads explode.

Hearns had a decent chin. He was gassed when Ray stopped him. And Marvin put his own kevlar jaw to the test, when trading bombs with Hearns.

If Tommy had developed his legs muscles more, and didn't cut as much weight for weigh ins, I dunno if anyone would complain too much about his chin. But then he'd lose the disparity in size and power that he so enjoyed, so maybe we wouldn't be talking about him at all...


Lewis had a shyte chin. Norton had a shyte chin. Cleveland Williams had a shyte chin. Patterson had a shyte chin. Julian Jackson had a shyte chin. Graziano, too.

I am not convinced Jack Johnson, Archie Moore and Joe Frazier actually had very good chins. Like Patterson, they all demonstrated a desire to keep fighting when hurt, but unlike Patterson , they usually fought opponents who were so outmatched, they didn't have to worry about having their beard tested.

Joe Louis, on the contrary had a great chin but doesn't get enough credit because how often he was stunned and dropped. But if you look at who he fought and HOW he fought them, it's to be expected.

Zarate and Olivares left me unimpressed with their chins.


Usually guys with poor chins, no matter how promising, dont make it too far. Even the absolute best get hit. Fuys like Pep, Canto, Loughran, Whitaker and Fury all got hit. My grandfather passed away in the early 90s a little before I really got into Boxing. But I remember he said they were all getting excited about a guy named McCool. Much more promising than Wolgast and Walcott and Giardello and Young... all Philly Boxers who had great chins, even when everything else had left them. McCool was a HUGE hit with the women apparently, but what did this fella in was his failure to take a punch. You don't hear of too many Irish guys who can't handle getting hit, but apparently this guy couldn't. I suspect he was better off for it, though, in the long run.

[them_apples]

I ask this because the chin/jaw is the only thing a fighter has no control over.
You can work on your speed,power,tactics but you can't toughen up your jaw.

Bruno would have become champ he may have beaten lennox lewis and may have beaten a prime tyson, he certainly would have beaten pinklon thomas and tim witherspoon. unfortunately his chin was an OFF switch, one clean shot and he fel asleep.

Hearns was a great anyway but if he had even an average chin i would say he would have been the best fighter p4p of all time


Who else??

Odd thing with Hearns is at 147 he didn't even have a bad jaw, it's more so his agressive style and disregard for defense wasn't exposed until he moved up where fighters were taller and took a better shot, were willing to rush in. Hearns didn't really defend himself well because his guns were so powerful at 147.


If we are gonna talk about weak chins though we are living in the era of weak chins.

Amir Khan, Anthony Joshua, wladmir....all the weak chin guys seem like skinnier dudes who put on tons of muscle that actually slowed them down and allowed them to be banged out.