Boxing websites and writers enjoy giving away awards at the end of each year. They give away awards such as best knockout, round of the year, boxer of the year, best new prospect, etc.
Sometimes websites rely on fan voting and sometimes the writers go only by the fights they see or hear about. Most times, they get it right and everyone is happy. Sometimes there is room for debate, which makes these awards fun to discuss among fans and media across the world.
One thing most observers don’t do is pay attention to the small venues. Who can forget the2001 battle between Julio Cesar Gonzalez and Julian Letterlough? I can’t. Do fans even know this fight took place? In the battle, Gonzalez (the winner) went down three times. Letterlough went down twice. The odd thing is that this fight still went the full twelve rounds. What a great scrap!
There are so many good fights that I’ve watched over the year in men’s and women’s boxing. A great deal of them happened at a small venue.
One fight that will get my vote for knockout of the year was the July 9, 2015 matchup between Travis “Seveer” Reeves and Samer Barakat. The year is not over and my opinion could change. However, at the time of this writing I’ll go with what I know.
The battle took place at Tall Cedar’s Hall in Maryland. The venue was small, but the house was packed. The eight-round affair was a back and forth battle, with neither fighter establishing a major advantage. That all changed in the sixth round. The fight was headed to the scorecards and fans were clamoring for someone to do some. Travis Reeves was that someone and he took heed to the fans wishes.
If you recall “Big” George Foreman’s fight with Michael Moorer, 45-year old Foreman won by knockout to became the oldest man to claim the heavyweight title. Foreman turned 46 days later. In the fight, he threw a one-two that caused Moorer to take a step back and immediately threw the same one-two to drop him.
In the Reeves/Barakat fight, Travis employed the same approach. While Big George was stationary, Reeves threw more of a “walk-you-down” one two combo- Antonio Margarito style. He threw a left and more of a looping right that backed Barakat into the corner, and immediately threw the same combination to get Barakat out of there.
While Moorer was about to get his feet after the ten-count, he was encouraged by physicians to stay down until he was checked out. Barakat on the other hand wasn’t as fortunate. He was laid out for a while and eventually taken by stretcher to the hospital.
Here is a short video of the knockout. Fans, judge for yourselves. I had a better angle the night of the fight and believe me, it looked worse than this video illustrates.
Travis is scheduled to fight again next Saturday 12/12 on SHAWSTYLE PRODUCTIONS AND SHABAZZ BROTHERZ card at Du Burns Arena in Baltimore.
Travis, my man. You have my vote for 2015 KO of The Year! Check it out:
