Tasted the canvas only once, on a bogus knockdown to Juan Roldan.

Marvelous Marvin Hagler:Hagler was the world’s best middleweight for almost a full decade and a host of heavy punchers, including Thomas Hearns and John Mugabi, could not put him down. Gavilan vs Graham: they combine for just two knockdowns in 269 bouts.Ĥ. Billy Graham: This tough New York welterweight had no fewer than 126 fights, including battles with Joey Giardello, Kid Gavilan and Carmen Basilio. As Frazier said after their third vicious war in Manila: “Man, I hit him with punches that’d bring down the walls of a city.” Frazier taking Ali to hell in Manila.ĥ. And “The Greatest” proved more than their match. The great Pancho Villa: Drawing by Damien Burton.Ħ. Muhammad Ali:Deadly bangers such as Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Oscar Bonavena, Ken Norton, Ron Lyle, and maybe the hardest puncher in boxing history, Earnie Shavers - all tested Ali’s chin. Pancho Villa: 104 contests in the ultra-competitive 1920’s - never knocked down. “Homicide Hank” tried but failed to put Ross on the canvas.ħ. Barney Ross:In a Hall of Fame career featuring dozens of matches with numerous fellow greats, Ross was decked just once, that knockdown courtesy of the great Jimmy McLarnin. The lanky Brown was as tough as they come.Ĩ. Panama Al Brown: This great bantamweight champion was knocked down on a single occasion in a grand total of 168 bouts. When he narrowly beat Robinson in their first epic battle, it was reported he “shook off punches that would have knocked down a horse.” Basilio rumbles with Sugar Ray.ĩ. Carmen Basilio: The rugged “Onion Farmer” battled some of the all-time greats at both welterweight and middleweight and was on the canvas just once in 79 fights. William ‘Gorilla’ Jones: In 144 bouts, Jones was off his feet just a single time, courtesy of great middleweight champion Freddie Steele. Carlos Monzon: One of the toughest of middleweight champs, the Argentinian had a hundred pro bouts and visited the canvas in just two of them, an early loss in 1964 to the more experienced Felipe Cambeiro, and then to fellow champion Rodrigo Valdez in “Escopeta’s” final fight in 1977. And who, without fail, always got up when they did.ġ2. Here are the twelve all-time best chins in boxing history, the warriors who, despite prolific careers and battles with truly dangerous punchers, seldom went down. A pugilist’s last line of defense is the durability of his mandible and of course no one doubts that a key qualification for ring greatness is sheer toughness, the ability to absorb heavy blows and fight on.

James lamotta