Granite Chin

In combat sports such as boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts, a fighter's chin is the figurative ability to tolerate physical trauma to the chin or jaw 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 chin or jaw without being struck unconscious, which can also be called a "granite chin", an "iron chin" or similar. Generally, the jaw portion of the skull, and specifically the point of the chin, is the area most vulnerable to a knock-out blow and therefore having an exceptional tolerance to punishment in this area is a great advantage to a fighter.

A "bad chin", "suspect chin", or "glass jaw" refers to fighters with limited ability to absorb punishment to the chin or jaw. Some boxing experts, such as Teddy Atlas, believe it to be a mindframe.

The 'chin' of a fighter is widely considered genetic, but is very affected by the amount of punishment the fighter takes throughout his/her career. Many instances of athletes with a 'good chin' have ended in the athlete relying too much on the attribute, thus slowly building up brain damage. Brain damage then in turn affects the brain's ability to recover from trauma, weakening the person’s ability to take a punch.

Certain factors are speculated to be the size and shape of the skull, strength of the neck as well as overall strength and weight. Other factors could be less visible, such as the brain being more efficient at replenishing the electrolyte balance after trauma, or more cerebrospinal fluid to protect the brain.

A fighter's chin could be affected by weight cutting (excessive water weight loss, malnutrition), or repeated blows to the head that cause brain damage ( Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) among other things.

Notable chins

Boxing

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

* Arthur Abraham
* Tomasz Adamek
* Muhammad Ali
* Canelo Álvarez
* Henry Armstrong
* Carmen Basilio
* James J. Braddock
* Christy Martin
* Randall "Tex" Cobb
* Chris Eubank
* Tommy Farr
* George Foreman
* Carl Froch
* Gene Fullmer
* Joe Frazier
* Kid Gavilán
* Gennady Golovkin
* Harry Greb
* Marvin Hagler
* Larry Holmes
* Evander Holyfield
* Bernard Hopkins
* Ike Ibeabuchi
* Glen Johnson
* Vitali Klitschko
* Jake LaMotta
* Juan Laporte
*Lennox Lewis
* Rocky Marciano
* Riddick Bowe
* George Chuvalo
* Floyd Mayweather
* Oliver McCall
* Wayne McCullough
* Ray Mercer
* Carlos Monzón
* Ruslan Provodnikov
* Sugar Ray Robinson
* Barney Ross
* Salvador Sanchez
* James Toney
* David Tua
* Tony Tucker
* Marion Wilson
* Nikolai Valuev
* Jimmy Young

Kickboxing

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

* Remy Bonjasky
* Francois Botha
* Choi Hong-man
* Francisco Filho
* Daniel Ghiţă
* Mark Hunt
* Alexey Ignashov
* Semmy Schilt
* Ray Sefo
* Bovy Sor Udomson
* Lloyd van Dams

Pro wrestling

* Mick Foley

The Undertaker

Mixed martial arts

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

* Yoshihiro Akiyama
* Stephan Bonnar
* Shane Carwin
* Carlos Condit
* Patrick Côté
* Nate Diaz
* Nick Diaz
* Junior dos Santos
* Brian Ebersole
* Frankie Edgar
* Fedor Emelianenko
* Tony Ferguson
* Don Frye
* Kazuyuki Fujita
* Leonard Garcia
* Kelvin Gastelum
* Clay Guida
* Dan Henderson
* Heath Herring
* Mark Hunt
* Quinton Jackson
* Jon Jones
* John Lineker
* Marvin Vettori
* Chris Lytle
* Ian McCall
* Roy Nelson
* Khabib Nurmagomedov
* BJ Penn
* Yoel Romero
* Diego Sanchez
* Kazushi Sakuraba
* Max Holloway
* Robbie Lawler
* Jorge Masvidal
* Alexander Volkanovski
* Cain Velasquez
* Brian Ortega
* Brandon Moreno
* Drew Dober
* Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
* The Korean Zombie
* Conor McGregor
* Stipe Miocic
* Tai Tuivasa
* Daniel Cormier

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chin (Boxing)
Boxing terminology
Kickboxing terminology
Martial arts terminology