Quote Originally Posted by Deanrw
I can see how that could help, the jaw is the most vulnerable spot, so less of it exposed the better. The physical makeup of the fighter themselves is a more determining factor. Some people just take better shots than others. Below are three guys who I use as examples of who I think took great punches, but for different reasons..

You got a guy like Holyfield, it almost seemed inhuman with the shots he could take flush, as long as he was not physically tired.

Lennox Lewis: Many considered him to have a weak jaw, but I think he actually had an iron chin, as long as he could see the punch coming. Lewis was only ever really vulnerable when he was not focused. So many caught him with amazing shots at the end of their punches, but he took them.

I remember when Mike Tyson was destroying everyone, a lot of people would say it was his 19.5 inch neck that made him take great punches. That was bull!! It was his defensive prowess and his tucked in chin that made fighters unable to land clean against him. Also the fact that guys were afraid to settle into a punch with him, due to them leaving themselves open his amazing speed and good power, helped him a lot. When a fighter got Tyson frustrated, his defenses started coming down and his chin was made available.

All three could take a punch, but I feel Tyson's chin was the weakest.









CC#25 on the Lewis statement.....Lennox the two times he was KO'd was caught by thunderous shots from BIG punchers...Rahman at the time was a hard hard puncher as was McCall and like you stated they were more or less Lewis not being focused then anything....

People tend to forget that in HW boxing any man can knock anyother man out on any given night...there is a lot of weight going behind those punches and while you can build the body the head and chin can not be built to absorb such force...


With that being said the answer to the thread is as a rule the overbite thing has nothing to do with it that is more myth....

It is usually the more square a jaw is the better ability to absorb a punch due to the fact the point of the chin is a soft spot for KO's kind of like behind the jaw...the more square the chin the more it distributes the force of the blow