How Does a Fighter Lose His Chin?

an interesting question on this boxing blog.Any ideas?
not just for this particular fight, but in general, what makes a fighter lose his punch resistance?

The Random Boxing Blog

I watched Pacquaio vs. Hatton again. What a dramatic fight that was.

The funny thing is: people in the post-fight analysis kept referring to how Hatton can no longer absorb a punch. Whilst it's true that in the Tsyzu fight, Hatton did walk through some bombs, the idea that a fighter's jaw can suddenly desert him is a strange one. Normally a fighter's chin is something referred to us a natural born gift; something you can't train or "put muscles on".

So how is it that it can suddenly become more china-like? Or put another way: could Ricky Hatton in 2005 really take a better shot than Ricky Hatton in 2009?

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Originally Posted by Vintage

an interesting question on this boxing blog.Any ideas?
not just for this particular fight, but in general, what makes a fighter lose his punch resistance?

The Random Boxing Blog

I watched Pacquaio vs. Hatton again. What a dramatic fight that was.

The funny thing is: people in the post-fight analysis kept referring to how Hatton can no longer absorb a punch. Whilst it's true that in the Tsyzu fight, Hatton did walk through some bombs, the idea that a fighter's jaw can suddenly desert him is a strange one. Normally a fighter's chin is something referred to us a natural born gift; something you can't train or "put muscles on".

So how is it that it can suddenly become more china-like? Or put another way: could Ricky Hatton in 2005 really take a better shot than Ricky Hatton in 2009?

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There was nothing dramatic about that fight. It was like watching Berbick-Tyson, but at 140 pounds.

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Originally Posted by generalbulldog

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Originally Posted by Vintage

an interesting question on this boxing blog.Any ideas?
not just for this particular fight, but in general, what makes a fighter lose his punch resistance?

The Random Boxing Blog

I watched Pacquaio vs. Hatton again. What a dramatic fight that was.

The funny thing is: people in the post-fight analysis kept referring to how Hatton can no longer absorb a punch. Whilst it's true that in the Tsyzu fight, Hatton did walk through some bombs, the idea that a fighter's jaw can suddenly desert him is a strange one. Normally a fighter's chin is something referred to us a natural born gift; something you can't train or "put muscles on".

So how is it that it can suddenly become more china-like? Or put another way: could Ricky Hatton in 2005 really take a better shot than Ricky Hatton in 2009?

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There was nothing dramatic about that fight. It was like watching Berbick-Tyson, but at 140 pounds.

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It was a dramatic fight.

this is a good question, one that i cant answer tho, sorry!

Personnaly i think the more you get hit the weaker your chin becomes imagine the amount of times Hatton got hit throughout his career it has to take some toll on his chin his brawler style just made it become more vonrable. Thats what i think.:)

But the punch that hit Hatton could have KO'd anyone at 140 and probably 147!

I don't think getting hit repeatedly in the face is particularly healthy. The accumulation of that year in year out and Hattons notorious liberties with conditioning and his and love of pies and ale has eventually lead to a state where the ability to take shots has been diminished somewhat.

Gatti is another one that could take a fair shot and on a repeated basis, but towards the end he was getting bowled over by the likes of Baldomir and Gomez who were not big punchers at all.

The body gets old and the there gets a point where the chin fails more than it used to.

There must be something in it, as we hear it said about boxers quite often.

Also, ray mercer comes to mind. He once had a granite chin. But with him, his knockout losses might had more to do with being too old and lacking any ambition

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Originally Posted by Vintage

There must be something in it, as we hear it said about boxers quite often.

Also, ray mercer comes to mind. He once had a granite chin. But with him, his knockout losses might had more to do with being too old and lacking any ambition

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yeah remember holyfield dropping him to one knee, he took sum good shots from lennox earlier in his career

Im of the thought that once you have been out cold unless you are of very stern stuff ;or you rebuild up your beard again with some very hard sparring and serious testing in slow stages:You could have a problem.

Other wise for many the original spark out can pave the way to you going out to it a touch easier the next time around and so on and so forth. Our cells have a memory as does the shut down process and also the fight or flight process . If it helped us to survive a bad situation once, its not unheard of in some situations (Not always fighting) to automatically and subconsciously head for the shut down mode the next time around.

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Originally Posted by Andre

Im of the thought that once you have been out cold unless you are of very stern stuff ;or you rebuild up your beard again with some very hard sparring and serious testing in slow stages:You could have a problem.

Other wise for many the original spark out can pave the way to you going out to it a touch easier the next time around and so on and so forth. Our cells have a memory as does the shut down process and also the fight or flight process . If it helped us to survive a bad situation once, its not unheard of in some situations (Not always fighting) to automatically and subconsciously head for the shut down mode the next time around.

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It's an interesting point. Of course everything slows down as we age but I do wonder how much mental toughness comes in to play.

It is often a situation of condition, as any drain on weight will essentially leave a body weaker then when it is running optimally. We tend to look at the chin, and not the other many determining factors, conditioning, age, and as Andre has suggested reoccurance and it's effects, as Missy suggests, mental toughness. etc.

While fighters often either do, or don't have a chin, this being established usually early in their career, there are still many things they can do physically to increase it's durability. So therefore also, when a fighters 'loses their chin' again, many variable can also come into play.

Barring any weight drain issues for individual fights that create dangers by lowering the water that slows down the rapid acceleration from a punch which sneds your brain crashing against the inside of a skull.... Some fighters can get concussed from punches that don't cause knock downs or leave them on rubber legs and never know it.

Everytime you get a concussion, you become more susceptible to getting the next one. It takes less and less to suffer a concussion after each successive concussion. With sufficient rest and time off, you can heal up and feel better. It still doesnt take any of the milage off that you have put on your brain. Its the reason many athletes (like nfl Qb's) wind up with post concussion syndrome. PCS makes it feel like you have a concussion all the time. Most noted is usually the balance problems/dizzyness/light headed feeling, constant fatigue and headaches. Eventually with enough rest, this goes away also but its truly a dangerous sign that your brain has reached its limit of abuse.

So even the punches that don't do a fighter in right away, eventually will.

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Originally Posted by J_Undisputed

Barring any weight drain issues for individual fights that create dangers by lowering the water that slows down the rapid acceleration from a punch which sneds your brain crashing against the inside of a skull.... Some fighters can get concussed from punches that don't cause knock downs or leave them on rubber legs and never know it.

Everytime you get a concussion, you become more susceptible to getting the next one. It takes less and less to suffer a concussion after each successive concussion. With sufficient rest and time off, you can heal up and feel better. It still doesnt take any of the milage off that you have put on your brain. Its the reason many athletes (like nfl Qb's) wind up with post concussion syndrome. PCS makes it feel like you have a concussion all the time. Most noted is usually the balance problems/dizzyness/light headed feeling, constant fatigue and headaches. Eventually with enough rest, this goes away also but its truly a dangerous sign that your brain has reached its limit of abuse.

So even the punches that don't do a fighter in right away, eventually will.

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This pretty much says it all. Also as others have mentioned, draining weight makes it difficult, particularly as it becomes harder to make the weight because of a lack of conditioning (e.g. Hatton). Also the mental factor of being KO'd once, especially when you believe yourself to have an indestructible chin, can lead to weaknesses in that area in the future. Here's hoping Margarito has to deal with that. But the above post is the best on here at explaining how a chin goes.

Hatton didn't lose his chin; he's got like 3 now.