How Does a Fighter Lose His Chin?

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Originally Posted by mattboxingfan

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.:)

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I think it is 50 percent psychological and 50 mental as one boxing joker might say (Tex Cobb comes to mind both as a quote maker and an example of a fighter who suddenly caves in to a nobody after taking bombs from Shavers, Holmes and Norton).

Psychologically the fighter probably just has no heart in taking so much punishment any more. Mentally, as in the brain's ability to absorb the punishment of bouncing around inside the skull, just isn't there any more either. Like any other part of the body, the more damage there is to it, the less chance of resistance to further pain there is.

There isn't an exact answer but there are a lot of variables that people don't tend to talk about.

I'll start with Hatton. It's a misconception that he used to have a great chin. He's been hurt several times in his career. Even a fair few times beforew he came close to crossing the Atlantic. Eamonn Magee, Vince Phillips, Ben Tackie and even Gilbert Quiros almost ten years ago hurt him pretty badly. Then there was Luis Collazo, Mayweather, Juan Lazcano and then Manny. The problem is, he looked the most hurt against Mayweather, Collazo and Manny so it's easy to say his punch resistance has gone. Like i said earlier it's not necessarily the case. Those 3 fighters throw combinations at great speed and Hatton has never had an asnwer for it. I've said it a few times before, but he got away with when he was younger because he was supposed to be facing guys that don't quite have what it takes to follow up when he gets hurt. Quiros, Lazcano, Phillips, Tackie and to an extent Tsyzu don't throw and land with the speed, regularity and accuracy to take advantage of Hatton when they have had him in trouble. Tszyu landed a few very good single shots but nothing like what Mayweather, Collazo and Manny did.

Sometimes the match-making isn't as hell bent on making the fighter look good as it is when he's an up and coming prospect. I'm pretty sure if you'd have put Hatton in against the speed and accuracy Mayweather, Pac and Collazo had, he would have had the same trouble.