17.03.04 – By Frank Lotierzo – GlovedFist@Juno.com – In the Heavyweight division I don’t care what anyone says, a fighter must have an outstanding chin to make a serious mark. That is something history has proven to be irrefutable. His chin doesn’t have to be Cobb or McCall like good, but it must be good enough that it’s mentioned as a plus when speaking of him. This past Saturday night we saw another perfect example of this during the Joe Mesi vs. Vassiliy Jirov Heavyweight fight on HBO. In the bout, Mesi was cruising along having his way with Jirov, and then BAM, he went down! And he never recovered to the point where he could turn the fight back around. It was strictly survival mode and trying just to make it through for Joe. Some may point to Mesi’s defense, and I’ll agree it definitely needs to be tightened up, but he wasn’t hit that many times. And not all of the shots that dropped or hurt him were bombs. It was his chin and overall ability to take a punch, especially late in the fight when he’s a little winded and spent that almost cost him the win.
Once Mesi went down, the fight was all Jirov. Mesi is another example of how a less than rock hard chin can keep a heavyweight from becoming outstanding let alone great. Jirov on the other hand is a perfect example of how a great chin can keep you in a fight. In his fight against Mesi, Jirov was absorbing a pretty good beating. No doubt that he was being hurt by Mesi’s punches and had some reservation about going after him. Which is exactly why he was so far behind in the scoring. He just wasn’t getting off and had some trepidation about leading in the exchanges.
However, once it became late in the fight, Jirov was desperate and had to take some chances in hopes of pulling the fight out. Remember, Jirov only went after Mesi because he knew he was way behind and needed to score a knockout or multiple knockdowns to win. The point is, his sturdy chin allowed him to be around late enough in the fight so if Mesi tired or faded, he could possibly catch him and pull it out. And he almost did. So in essence, it was Mesi’s less than solid chin that almost cost him the fight. Opposed to Jirov’s strong chin that enabled him to be around after taking a pretty good going over and score some knockdowns in order to get back in the fight and almost pull it out.
Had Mesi’s chin held up better, it would have been an easy win for him. In fact he was way out in front even in the ninth round when Jirov scored his first knockdown. On the other hand, had Jirov not had such a good chin, he would’ve never been around to have given himself a chance to get back into a fight he was totally being out-thought and out-fought in.
When a top heavyweight has a sturdy chin, it keeps him in fights that he is losing. Many of fights have been turned around because one fighter had the chin to weather some massive barrage’s along the way, and then catch his opponent when made that one crucial mistake. In the heavyweight division, most of the fighters can’t fight at a sustained pace with out coming up for air. This is when they are sometimes vulnerable to being counter attacked. However, the fighter who is not as skilled or good, can remain alive in the fight if he has a great chin to capitalize when and if his opponent slows down or tires.
Another example where the difference in the ability to take a punch reared it’s head was in the Tommy Morrison versus Ray Mercer fight. In fact the ability to take a big time shot was one of the main differences in the way their careers went. Early in their fight, Morrison half killed Mercer. He was dropping massive bombs on Mercer’s head and body at will for the first three rounds. I was sitting ringside with Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News at that fight. We looked at each other a few times during those first three rounds in almost amazement as Morrison was rocking Mercer’s head back and forth. We were stunned that Mercer never seemed hurt or really stunned from those bombs.
After the third round, Morrison tired. In the fourth and fifth rounds Mercer came on and started turning the fight. In round five Mercer knocked Morrison out, in what has to be one of the most brutal knockouts I have ever seen live. It’s a real credit to Morrison that he even came back after that and scored some big wins. But the fact is, Mercer’s concrete chin kept him around so he could be there and strike when Morrison slowed down. On the other hand, Morrison’s less than sturdy chin betrayed him and cost him the fight.
Regardless of what anyone says, a heavyweight needs a great chin along with many other weapons to become a great fighter. For those who don’t subscribe to this, I have one question. Name a former heavyweight champ since Joe Louis who is considered great by most historians who didn’t have a great chin?
Don’t say Louis, despite being down ten times. He was only stopped by Schmeling early in his career before he was considered great, and by Marciano who could really punch when he was 37 and shot. The other times he went down were flash knockdowns and he jumped right up and was never close to being stopped. Marciano had a great chin, and was never close to being stopped. Sonny Liston was only KO’d by Leotis Martin when he was probably 40 plus years old, and no Ali did not knock him out. Other than Martin, Liston was never even really shook. Not even by Cleveland Williams or Marty Marshall who broke his jaw in their first fight.
Most all historians acknowledge that Muhammad Ali had one of the greatest chins ever. Joe Frazier was stopped three times, and put down in his 11th fight by Oscar Bonavena who was fighting in his 28th fight. George Foreman had Frazier down 8 times in two fights, but that was Foreman. Nobody else came close to putting Joe down. And even though Ali stopped him, it was in between the 14th and 15th rounds of a gruelling fight when Eddie Futch stopped it because Frazier couldn’t see. Foreman also had a great chin, and was only stopped by Ali due to fatigue, and hurt by Ron Lyle who was a terrific puncher.
Larry Holmes had a great chin, and was only stopped by Tyson when he was 38. Like with what Foreman did to Frazier, nobody else could’ve done to Holmes what Tyson did, and again Holmes was way past his peak. Mike Tyson also had a terrific chin, and like Frazier didn’t go down or get blown out by one punch. Evander Holyfield is another one who had an all-time great chin and ranks up there with the greatest of the greats. That brings us to Lennox Lewis. In my opinion he is just about the only heavyweight champ since Joe Louis who has gone on to achieve greatness without possessing a really great chin. But in Lewis’ defense, he was only knocked out once when he was 238 and in top shape versus Oliver McCall.
The fact is, a true world class heavyweight contender must have more than a good or adequate chin if he hopes to go onto possibly becoming a World Champion. And he must have a great chin if he hopes to go onto achieve greatness. It’s just the nature of the beast in the Heavyweight division. Mostly all heavyweights can punch, and none of them are immune to getting caught, and a lot of them tire late in the fight. So it’s imperative that their chin holds up as a last line of defense in order to carry them through when that one Sunday punch by their opponent breaks through their defense.
Joe Mesi showed a lot against Jirov in his last fight. He was totally controlling the fight and taking it to Jirov real good. In fact Jirov had all but stopped pressuring him by the mid rounds because he was getting hurt by Mesi. Once he started running out of time he became desperate and had no choice but to try and save the fight. When Jirov went for it, Mesi’s durability betrayed him and almost cost him the fight. Mesi has been down 4 times in the last 20 rounds he’s fought, and all in the second half of the fight. That’s a big concern because neither Monte Barrett or Vassiliy Jirov are considered big time punchers in the heavyweight division.
In the end I believe Mesi’s chin and durability will be his Achilles. No doubt he’ll make some money, but I can’t ever envision him beating the World’s top Heavyweight’s in a Big Spot with the title on the line. And like most physical gifts that fighter’s are born with, (power, speed, etc) a chin is something that cannot be acquired. It’s either there or it’s not and there is nothing a fighter or anyone can do if it’s not.
I’ve now seen enough to realize that Joe Mesi is a pretty good Boxer with above average speed and decent power, but I don’t see him winning a piece of the title even in this very thin Heavyweight division. I’ll never say never, and even if some how he did, I doubt that he’d hold it very long.