Chin (combat sports)

In combat sports such as boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts, a fighter's chin is a figurative term that refers to an ability to tolerate physical trauma to the head without being knocked unconscious. The fictional Rocky Balboa character of the Rocky franchise epitomizes the concept of a boxer with a granite chin.

Overview

A fighter with a "good chin" refers to a fighter with the ability to absorb blows to the head without being struck unconscious, which can also be called "having a beard", "good whiskers", "granite chin", or "iron chin".

Although such fighters have been knocked out, it is rare. There is a dispute as to the physiology of having a "good chin". Some believe that a strong neck that resists a sudden angular acceleration of the head is what makes a "good chin". Supporters of this belief point to Evander Holyfield and Marvin Hagler, both of whom were strong and had large trapezius muscles around the neck. Others believe that it is genetics that decides whether a fighter will have a good chin or not.

A fighter with a "bad chin", "china chin", "suspect chin", or "glass jaw" refers to fighters with limited ability to absorb punishment to the chin or jaw. Many clubfighters and journeymen may have glass chins, although it may depend on weight class or sometimes legs. Some boxing experts, such as Teddy Atlas, believe it to be a mindframe. Additionally, some fighters have been known to have better chins as a result of moving up to a higher weight class. One example of this is Miguel Cotto, who was seen as having a relatively weak chin at light welterweight but was harder to hurt once he moved up to welterweight.^[1]

In 2008, Amir Khan was labelled as being "chinny"^[2] and lacking a "decent chin"^[3] after being knocked out in 54 seconds in his bout with Colombian Breidis Prescott. The label held after he was wobbled in the 10th round of a bout versus Marcos Maidana and later knocked out by Danny Garcia in the 4th round of their fight.

Notable chins

Chins in boxing

The following boxers have been known to possess a strong chin:

Chins in kickboxing

The following kickboxers have been known to possess a strong chin:

The following kickboxers are known for having weaker chins:

Chins in mixed martial arts

The following list of mixed martial artists are known to have a strong chin:

Yoshihiro Akiyama^[19]
Stephan Bonnar^[20]^[21]
Wesley Correira^[22] (earlier in his career)
Carlos Condit^[23]
Patrick Côté^[24] (earlier in his career)
Nick Diaz^[20]
Nate Diaz^[25]
Brian Ebersole^[26]
Fedor Emelianenko^[27]
Kazuyuki Fujita^[28] (earlier in his career)
Clay Guida^[20]^[29]
Dan Henderson^[20]^[30]
Mark Hunt^[14]
Quinton Jackson^[31]
Chuck Liddell (in his prime)^[32]
Chris Lytle^[33]
Roy Nelson^[34]
BJ Penn^[35]
Kazushi Sakuraba (in his prime)^[36]
Diego Sanchez^[20]^[37]
Sean Strickland^[38]

The following list of mixed martial artists are known to have a weak chin: