A fighters ability to take a punch?

[dave82]

Over the past few years since I've become heavily interested in boxing I've heard a lot of people talk about how certain fighters in their primes have never been dropped/stopped or seriously rocked. Basically, I wanted to get your ideas/reasons on why a fighter loses his ability to absorb a punch and stay conscience.

As we all know over time our bodies lose conditioning, our metabolism drops, muscle starts to lose its integrity, reflexes become much slower, however what I don't understand is why chins get weaker.

As fighters progress in their careers they tend to put on weight and you can usually see their faces blow up a bit. One would think that the extra weight in their faces would help absorb the impact of incoming punches?!

I was watching Morales vs Pacquaio 3 and became intrigued by the 1st knockdown that Morales suffered. Over the years we have seen Morales take much bigger shots and not buckle. But there he was, helpless against the ropes.
So what has changed?!

Lets take Ray Mercer for example, who was involved in many tough fights against some very hard hitters (Lewis, Morrison, Hoyfield just to name a few) yet was TKO by Wladmir (with all due respect to Wladimir of course) in the later stage of his career.

I read that messages from our brains can affect how we react to pain. As we know boxing causes significant damage to our brains and in particular to the regions which are responsible for speech, movement, sight, touch etc. Perhaps as a fighter career goes on their chins remain unchanged, perhaps its their brains ability to perceive pain and release endorphins that change due to the physical trauma caused by boxing?

Can we also consider the psychological and emotional processes that may also determine how fighters react to pain?

*Emotional and psychological state
*Memories
*Attitude
*Expectations
*Beliefs and values
*Age
*Sex
*Social and cultural influences

What are your thoughts?

[dave82]

Christ.....my thread just blows! HAHAHA

[Jay]

??? It doesnt blow - it's quite interesting.. I'm one of a few that believe chins can be improved - and this theory that it DOES degrade over time, helps to supplement that - if it can get worse, it can get better.

I actually believe a good percentage is mental - you dont have the same focus and desire in your old age as when you're younger. This fits in with the phrase "caught cold" - if they go out and arent fully mentally prepared and in the fight, they could go down early, yet if they wake up after that kd - they can take shot after shot and not get affected one iota.

Also - balance degrades over time - that could affect "chin", as it's your legs that wobble if your chin gets caught and you cant take it. Strong legs, GREAT centre of Gravity, and a fantastic mental focus with a desire to win no matter what you have to take in return.. That's a shortened version of how i consider the chin issue.

[smoochp]

I hope your right Jay, because my man kahn has a lot of talent and no chin.

[acb_]

Basically Dave IMO people are generally less prone to accepting abuse to the body as they age. A 21 year old can drink all night and work all day, but at ages 31 and 41 this ability withers. Taking punches and punishment in boxing mirrors this.

Add to this that the brain accepts less and less punishment each time it is injured (ex: quarterbacks who increasingly get concussions with seemingly light tackles) and its a compounded affect. And finally, your lessened athletic ability and reflexes mean that you actually get hit more, so it all makes sense really.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by smoochp

I hope your right Jay, because my man kahn has a lot of talent and no chin.

I'm not going to say that you can go from glass to iron (although i think there have been fighters who went down really early in their career - then grew reputations as some of the best chins in the business. but i dont believe that once a bad chin - always a bad chin. that's utter crap - lewis put down twice by one shots, he's also taken shots from some of the biggest hitters the division has seen - and took them fine. Each time he went down though - he wasnt focused or motivated, he was looking further into the future, and that i think shows that a lot of the chin can be mental. I know it's a film - but look at Rock 3 - Normally rocky is in there and takes ridiculous punishment - but his focus is there, in the first lang fight - the mickey factor, no real training - no focus, he gets ko'd, then he goes 15 hard rounds with drago.. I know it's only a film - but it still shows that there may be something in the idea of how focused and mentally prepared you are - with regards to taking a punch.