14.09.07 – By Ted Sares: Let me acknowledge at the outset that I likely have failed to include some that should be included, so I am depending on you to fill in the blanks. Still, the following provided some indelible memories that are well worth sharing:
1951: The first great left hook I ever witnessed was launched by Jersey Joe Walcott against Ezzard Charles in July 1951 in Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year. It came out of the blue, as Joe was shuffling in at Charles when all of a sudden he let loose with a short, sneaky, and fully leveraged hook that sent the great Charles down and out.
Instructive films of this explosive shot are shown to the day as an example of how to leverage a hook with body movement to maximize full power. This one is my all-time favorite and I tried to emulate it at times as an amateur fighter.
1957: This one was thrown by none other than perhaps the greatest fighter of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson. It occurred in another Ring Magazine Fight of the Year at the Chicago Stadium and it came against granite-chin Gene Fullmer in the fifth round. It was perfectly thrown in every respect and hit Fullmer on the sweet spot putting him down and in shock. He struggled to get up and then collapsed onto his back. A shocker!
1960: At the Polo Grounds in New York City, Floyd Patterson regained his Heavyweight belt when he flew through the air and hit Ingemar Johansson with a left hook from hell that had the Swede’s leg twitching while he lay unconscious. A frightening scene.
1968: In May before 12,000 fans at Madison Square Garden, Big Bob Foster destroyed Dick Tiger with a brutal left hook that sent Dick to dreamland. Ring Magazine would call the 4th the “Round of the Year.” Two minutes into the round, Foster threw a right that missed and followed with a short hook that caught Tiger flush coming in. Tiger went down hard and was counted outfor the first time in his long career. It had also been only his second knockdown in 77 fights.
Tiger would describe his experience to Ring Magazine afterward: “I do not see anything. I do not hear anything. Everything is all quiet, and it is dark. There is no pain, there is no sound. I do not know I was on the floor. Was I on the floor?”
1971: Joe Frazier decks Muhammad Ali in the 15th round to clinch his UD win at Madison Square Garden. The punch is a perfectly thrown and vicious left hook that undoubtedly would have knocked anyone else out cold, but the tough Ali got up to finish the fight.
1972: In June, Bob Foster once again landed his big left hook for a devastating knockout victory over Mike Quarry. This was one of the most perfect punches ever thrown and left Mike, like Ingemar Johansson many years earlier, out cold with his legs twitching. Those who witnessed it will never forget it. Mike would never be the same.
1980: Sugar Ray Leonard starched Dave Boy Green at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland with a left hook that had such ferocity on it, some at ringside thought Green had been killed. When he finally woke up, there was a collective sigh of relief. It was a brutal knockout. It is hard to recover from a loss like that but Green put together four wins to stay in contention.
1984: Juan Meza struck Jaime Garza on the sweet point of his jaw with a savage counter hook, snapping his head violently to the side. His body twisted grotesquely and crashed hard to the canvas, his head bouncing dangerously off the canvas. Garza’s eyes rolled up into his head. He was in bad shape but made a valiant effort pull himself upright after rolling under the ropes. His effort was too little too late. Referee LoBianco reached the count of ten a split-second before Garza fully regained his feet, but he would have been in no shape to continue even if he had beaten the count. This one was in Kingston, NY.
1986: Trevor Berbick was knocked out by Mike Tyson at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.
Berbick was decked twice in round 2. After trying to rise from the second knockdown, he fell another two times. In short, he fell three times as a result of one punch and traveled over most of the ring’s surface in the process.
1996: Tommy Morrison decked Razor Ruddock with as sweet and lethal a left hook as one can envision. Incredibly, the tough Ruddock got off the canvas but was then swarmed upon and dropped by the tiring Duke. This one occurred at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri and was a blood and guts affair to the max.
1991: Michael Nunn took on James Toney who Nunn was favored to beat. Toney angered Nunn with trash talk and Nunn promised to give him a beating. He dominated the fight early on with flowing combinations and amazing hand speed. But Toney kept coming, and as Nunn’s punch numbers started to decline, Toney took control. In the 11th round, he decked Nunn with a monster left hook. Nunn rose, but after a non-stop battering by Toney, the referee halted matters. The era of “Lights Out” had been initiated.
1996: David Tua put “The Quite Man,” John Ruiz, to sleep in just 19 seconds with two monster left hooks and won the WBC International heavyweight title at the Convention Center in Atlantic City. Ruiz did not know what hit him. Incredibly, since that fight, Ruiz has gained a reputation for having a rock solid chin.
1997: Roy Jones Junior avenged his first loss (a DQ) by brutally putting away Montell Griffin in the first round at the Foxwoods Resort. He would not lose again until 2004.
1999: Derrick “D Train” Jefferson almost decapitated Maurice Harris with a devastating hook that was named the 1999 Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year. Jefferson, at 6’6″ and weighing 240 pounds, got everything into the shot.
2005: Alan “Sweetness” Green proved to be anything but as he starched Jaidon Codrington in Oklahoma in just 18 seconds. Green set Codington up lethall combinations and then finished him off with a left hook to the chin that put him to sleep as he fell through the ropes. The savage victory earned Green the 2005 Ring Magazine KO of the Year. It was first believed that Codrington had suffered fractured sixth vertebrae. However, doctors retracted that diagnosis and Codrington was released after neurological tests and CAT scans of the vertebrae came back negative. Fortunately, he has fully recovered and is now in the “Contender” series.
2006: In February, Calvin Brock, like Jefferson, almost became a decapitator when he crunched Zuri Lawrence to sleep with a counter left hook that caught Zuri flush and ended up being another the Ring Magazine KO of the Year.
2007: Staten Island was the scene for Darnell ‘The Ding a Ling Man’ Wilson’s scary ending of his fight with former USBA cruiserweight champion, Emanuel Nwodo. The icing came after a short chase. It was a fully leveraged left hook that hit the trapped and helpless Nwodo flush and rendered him a rag doll as he fell unconscious to the canvas. It was the type of knockout that made you wonder whether he would ever get up; it was chilling.