Top 10 Scariest Knockouts in Boxing History
Another major interest of mine is the sport of boxing. My dad, uncles and grandfather were all big boxing fans so it passed down to me. It's the only sport I follow. I grew up watching a lot of fights and even participated in the sport as a youth. I listed these because they were the ones that are etched into my brain when I think of scary knockouts. Unfortunately there are a few knockouts that resulted in death. I will not list those because they are not scary, they are tragic.
April 3, 1992. At 1:40 of the first round, Jones Jr. pawed a jab to Serwano's chest then followed with a hard over-hand right smashing into Serwano's temple. Serwano crashed to the canvas. He was spazzing out on the floor, mouth open, and his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Looked like he was literally dying. Scary to see.
October 16, 1909. Classics boxing moment. In round 12, after being dropped by Ketchel, Johnson pops back up and immediately throws a short right that stuns Ketchel followed by another right hand with everything behind it that knocks Ketchel out. Johnson also catches him with homerun left hook while Ketchel was falling back unconscious. The punch was so devastating Ketchel's teeth were stuck in Johnson's glove. As Johnson is standing over the unconscious Ketchel, you can see Johnson wiping Ketchel's teeth off his gloves.
October 18, 1991. 28 seconds into the fifth round Mercer hurt Morrison with a right that sent Morrison into ropes. While dazed and caging up defensively Morrison gets hit with a left hook that really hurts him. Then Mercer lands two hard rights that knocks Morrison out. Even though Morrison was unconscious he was still being held up by the ropes. While unconscious with his hands down at his sides, the idiot referee allowed Mercer to land numerous hard blows on Morrison before he finally crumbled to the canvas.
May 2, 2009. After being nailed by numerous right hooks and dropped twice from Pacquiao in the first round, Hatton was knocked out cold from a Pacquiao left in round two with just a second left in the round. Pacquiao fainted the right hook then shot his left crashing flush on Hatton's chin. Hatton was out before he hit the floor. He laid unconscious for several minutes before coming to.
October 17, 2009. At 2:54 of the last round, Abraham cracked Taylor with a one-two that split Taylor's gloves nailing him on the chin sending him straight back and out. The way he dropped and disturbing noise Taylor was making while unconscious was scary. Actually that knockout almost killed Taylor. He was hospitalized for a severe concussion and bleeding of the brain. Many, including myself, think that knockout severely and permanently damaged Taylor mentally.
May 19, 2012. 17 seconds into the fourth round both fighters simultaneously exchange left hooks with Kessler landing first and flush on Green's chin. Kessler threw his hook while rolling to his left while Green threw his flat-footed. Green crashed to the canvas out stiff with his head awkwardly spun to the side.
November 20, 2010. Martinez caught Williams, who was known to have an iron chin, with a haymaker over-hand left as Willams was coming forward that instantly knock him out. Williams toppled over face first in slow motion. After crashing down on the canvas, he laid there unconscious with his eyes open and motionless for several minutes. The knockout came at 1:10 of the second round.
September 25, 2004. After pummeling Jones Jr. against the ropes for 8 rounds, Johnson cracked Jones 49 seconds into the ninth round with a basic one- two that sent Jones down and out. Johnson's right caught Jones behind his left ear instantly knocking him unconscious. Jones hit the floor hard with his head bouncing off the canvas. He laid unconscious for several minutes.
December 8, 2012. On their fourth fight against one another, Marquez caught Pacquiao with a perfect counter right hand as Pacquiao recklessly charged in. Towards the end of the sixth round Pacquiao seemed to have Marquez hurt and in a bit of trouble when Marquez landed the well placed counter (his trademark). With Pacquiao's momentum coming forward, the punch was quite an impact. It snapped Pacquiao's head back with his hair flailing all over the place as he fell forward on his face. The impact of the punch was so hard Pacquiao's hair stood straight up on contact. Pacquiao laid face down unconscious drooling on the canvas. The knockout came right at the bell in the sixth round.
Tragic 1980 fight; Owen never regained consciousness, and died seven weeks later.
January 22, 1988. After knocking old Larry Holmes down two times in the fourth round, Tyson finished him with a right to the jaw while Holmes was dazed against the ropes. Holmes crashed to the canvas, eyes closed with his arms lying straight out (like a crucifix). When I saw this fight at eleven years old, I thought Tyson may have killed him. What really made this knockout, well just the fight in general, scary is Holmes was 38 (which is considered old in boxing) and coming out of a two year retirement to fight Tyson. He also lost his two previous fights before retiring. Coming back from back to back loses and two years out of the ring at 38 to fight a young 21 year old fast powerful beast like Tyson?...yeah I was scared for Larry.
With Norton leaned over in the corner, Cooney hit him with about 20 undefended power punches before the fight was stopped.
