By Patrick White: Why is it the case that some boxers can take a punch but others cannot? Or to phrase this more scientifically: why is there such apparent variation in the punch resistance of professional boxers? How can Carl Froch take punches to the head like his cranium is made of stone, yet Amir Khan wobbles or goes limp and falls to the canvass when hit with a solid punch? I cannot offer a conclusive explanation as to what accounts for this variation but I can identify some important factors.
Background Information
The first thing to understand is that a hurtful punch in boxing is a blow that shakes the brain within the skull to a significant degree. Some people use the the term concussion to denote a shaking of the brain within the skull but others treat the word has being synonymous with mild traumatic brain injury (or mtbi) and since it is not clear — at least from what I have read — that every instance of brain shaking results in a mild traumatic brain injury, I will not refer to these events as concussions.
Brain-shaking is most likely to result from a punch that causes rotational (rather than linear) acceleration of the head. Rotational acceleration can occur along two possible dimensions: in an up-down direction (the same dimension of movement you use when you nod your head to signify “Yes”); or in a left-right direction (when you shake your head to mean “No”); or can be a combination of the two. Linear acceleration also occurs in two different directions. Forwards-backwards linear acceleration is when the head moves forwards and backwards whilst the eyes and ears remain on the same horizontal spatial plain. Woodpeckers, for example, accelerate their heads in this way when pecking a tree trunk. Side-to-side linear acceleration occurs when the head moves from side-to-side with both eyes remaining on the same horizontal spatial plain. An example of this is the way that the character Dhalsim from the computer game Street Fighter moves his head from side to side.
Although significant brain-shaking can result from linear acceleration it is much more likely to result from rotational acceleration, according to the research of bio-mechanists that I have read. I am not entirely sure why this is the case, but I heard one bio-mechanist claim that it was at least partly a result of the fact that the front of the brain sits on a shelf inside the skull — a shelf that extends from the back of the eyes towards the ears in the same way that the arms on a pair of glasses extend from the eyes to the ears — and that this increases the inertia of the brain when the head is in an upright position. This principle is fairly easy to test. If, for example you place coin on a dinner plate, and move that plate backwards and forwards when that plate is in a horizontal position the coin is less likely to fall of the plate than if the plate is tilted when moving the plate backwards and forwards.
The theory that significant brain-shaking is more likely to result from rotational acceleration is well demonstrated by boxing. The vast majority of punches that cause knockouts are landed on the chin which leverages the head and causes rotational acceleration of the head in one direction or another. A straight right hand to the chin — like the one Marquez knocked Pacquiao out with — typically causes the head to rotate in an up-down direction; and hooks landed on the side of the chin or jaw — think of the left-hook that Danny Garcia landed on Erik Morales — usually result in left-right rotational acceleration.
The only exception to the rotational-acceleration rule appears to be punches that are landed on temple or behind the ear/upper neck. Blows landed on the temple are damaging because the skull is relatively thin at this location and hence will absorb less of the force of the blow. I am not sure why punches landed behind the ear/upper neck are also damaging but I suspect it is the result of two possible factors: (1) either the skull is relatively thin at this point, at it is at the temple; and/or (2) a punch landed in this location causes the head to pivot in such a way that it compresses one or more of the arteries in the neck and thereby dramatically reduces blood flow to the brain.
With this established it is now possible to identify some of the factors that enable a boxer to take a punch.
The Weight of the Head
All things being equal the heavier a boxer’s head is the less likely it is that a given punch will accelerate his head to the degree necessary to shake his brain within his skull to a significant extent. Fighters that appear to have unusually large heads for their size are Manny Pacquiao, Carl Froch, Shane Mosley and Derek Chisora, all of whom are considered to have pretty solid chins.
Amir Khan appears to have a particularly small head, as does David Haye, and both Khan and Haye (particularly Khan) are regarded as having low-punch resistance. Interestingly, both Floyd Mayweather and Deontay Wilder have relatively small heads. Does this suggest that Mayweather’s safety-first is partly a result of having a soft chin, and that Deontay Wilder may come unstuck when someone manages to land something big on his chin?
The Thickness of the Skull
The thicker the skull the more force it will absorb, and every unit of force that is absorbed by the skull is a unit of force that will not contribute to the rotational acceleration of the head and/or be transmitted directly to the brain. I remember Jim Lampley mentioning that Antonio Barrera, a fighter considered to have an extremely robust chin, was determined to have an unusually thick skull after having his head x-rayed.
The Strength of the Neck
By bracing the neck — that is, tensing the muscles in the neck — a fighter is able to minimize the degree of rotational acceleration caused by a given punch. It follows therefore that the stronger a fighter’s neck is the less likely he is to be hurt by a given punch directed at the head. This is why many fighters perform neck strengthening exercises. Floyd Mayweather, for example, uses a leather harness to lift metal weights with his head.
Awareness
It is well established in boxing that the punch you don’t see coming is, all things being equal, more dangerous than one that you do see coming. This is because a fighter will not brace his neck muscles in preparation for the forthcoming blow and hence will not minimize the potential rotational acceleration caused by that punch. A good example of this is the punch that Sergio Martinez knocked Paul Williams out with. The more perceptive a boxer is in the ring the more likely he is to see a dangerous punch coming and brace his neck in preparation.
Comments are closed.