(Bob Satterfield icing Bob Baker) 15.09.07 – By Ted Sares: I submit the same caveat as I did with my Chronology of Left hooks, to wit: I acknowledge at the outset that I likely have failed to include some rights that should be included, so I am depending on you to fill in the blanks. Still, the following provided some indelible memories for me and I believe are worthy of sharing.
1946: Tami Mauriello rocked Joe Louis with a monster right in the first round that sent Joe crashing into the ropes and had “upset” written all over it. But The Brown Bomber came back to ice tough Tami, 82-13-1, in the same round. Tami’s right gets the props here, though Louis’s right cross was incredibly devastating. Indeed, his punches were so compact that some in the media claimed a Joe Louis punch need only to travel six inches to render an opponent unconscious.
1950: This one is quoted directly from my forthcoming book: “…perhaps the classic example of a Satterfield fight was in the Chicago Stadium in 1950 against mean Lee Oma, 62-26-3 coming in. Satterfield was floored for a nine count in the 5th round and barely made it to his feet. Oma moved in for the kill but Satterfield then suddenly dropped him with a right. Oma, still on the floor when the round ended, was saved by the bell. Satterfield then knocked him cold with a savage right in the next round that had the Stadium crowd “oohing and aahhing.” That was an indelible boxing memory. That was beautiful “the oohing and aahhing.” I call this the “Right From Hell.”
1952: Rocky Marciano decisioned prospect Roland LaStarza in 1950. A year later, he knocked out come backing former heavyweight champion Joe Louis, and this led to a title fight against 38-year-old champion Jersey Joe Walcott. Marciano overcame a first-round knockdown to win the title on a 13th-round knockout in 1952 with a devastating right that left Walcott hanging helplessly over the ropes. Photos of this shot decorate the walls of many Boston area pubs.
1970: Carlos Monzon, the powerful and rangy Argentinean a killing machine, first captured the World Middleweight Boxing Championship in a shocking upset over the highly favored Nino Benvenuti. Who can forget Carlos moving across the ring and launching the perfect rights cross to the jaw that was the coup de grace for Nino? Overnight, he became the toast of the boxing world
1981: Wilfred Benitez, the Puerto Rican prodigy, met Maurice Hope on May 23, 1981 in Las Vegas. At stake was the WBC Light Middleweight Title. Benitez was 41-1-1, Hope 32-2-1. Benitez was stylish but had deceptive punching power. Hope also had sneaky punching power. Benitez was well ahead on all three scorecards when he landed a concussive and thunderous overhand right hand in the twelfth round that separated Hope from his senses and rendered him totally unconscious. He was out before he landed. No jab or lead-in combination was involved; just the right from hell. The KO was of the highlights variety and was seen on televised sports shows throughout the world. Hope required hospitalization, but fortunately recuperated.
1984: James Kinchen nailed Alex Ramos with a right to the temple in the ninth round that sent “The Bronx Bomber” to the ropes totally helpless and out on his feet. He was a sitting duck.. Kitchen then nailed him with another, more lethal right that could only render terrible damage. It was unnecessary and horrific to witness. It occurred at Caesars Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada.
1984: Thomas Hearns shocked the boxing world when he iced (and I do mean iced) Roberto Duran at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Those who witnessed this one could not believe their eyes as Tommy unloaded a sledgehammer right straight down the pipe. Watching Duran fall face-first was a chiller.
1988: At exactly two minutes and thirty-nine seconds of the third round, the audience at Caesars Palace suddenly froze in disbelief. Iran Barkley, blood flowing into his eyes and his body bent forward from the pain of Thomas Hearns’ savage body attack, threw a wide right hand bomb. Amazingly, it landed flush and “The Hitman” slowly fell backwards, but before he hit the canvas, Barkley hit Hearns with another brutal right that both punctuated and intensified his fall. Somehow, Tommy got up and was immediately mugged by the “Blade” until Referee Richard Steele rescued him from the assault. The likable Iran Barkley had won the WBC middleweight title. But the memory for me was that second right hand shot Iran threw that turbo-charged TommyÕs descent to the canvas.
1989: With the WBA light middleweight title at stake, a struggling Julian “The Hawk” Jackson caught and froze Terry Norris with a lethal right and then applied the coup de gras with another. Just like that, Terry, who had been winning the fight, was done.
The author with fit and ready Terry Norris
1990: With just over a minute gone in the fourth round, Julian “The Hawk” Jackson landed a punch that felled Herol Graham in a frightening and chilling manner. It was a massive right hand that landed flush on the advancing Graham adding concussive power to an already concussive shot. Herol’s body went limp and he crashed to the canvas unconscious. The Hawk could pop.
1990: James “Buster” Douglas accomplished the greatest upset in boxing history when he punctuated a sudden assault on Mike Tyson with a thunderous uppercut, slashing right, and fast left hook that sent Iron Mike down for the count in Tokyo. In so doing, he won the WBC, WBA and IBF Heavyweight Championships of the World. It was the middle punch (i.e., the right) of that savage combination that sent Mike south for good.
1990: In 1990, Big George Foreman met former title challenger Gerry Cooney in Atlantic City. Cooney, coming off a long period of inactivity, wobbled Foreman in the first round. Foreman then landed several powerful punches in the second. Cooney froze and was decked twice. Foreman simply could not miss with his bombs many of which were malefic rights and scored one of the most devastating knockouts in heavyweight history.
1994: Foreman once again sought to challenge for the world championship after Michael Moorer had beaten Evander Holyfield for the IBF and WBA titles. Foreman wore the same red trunks he had worn in his title loss to Ali 20 years earlier. This time, he was a big underdog. Out boxed by Moorer, Big George was trailing on all scorecards going into the tenth. Then, a short right cross suddenly caught Moorer on the tip of his chin, gashing open his bottom lip. He collapsed to the canvas. George was walking forward as he launched the right and it carried his full weight behind it. The shocked and dazed Moorer lay flat on his back as the referee counted him out.
1994: Oliver McCall moved all the way to the heavyweight crown with a one-punch kockout of Lennox Lewis that would have floored an ox. That Lennox could get up attests to his fighting heart.
2001: Lennox Lewis avenged his loss to Hasim Rahman by putting him down and out in Las Vegas with a sweeping and power-laden right cross. It was sweet redemption for The Lion from London.
The most frightening right hand knockout I have ever seen came in 2004 when, with one brutal overhand right, Anne Wolf crushed previously undefeated 6’6″ “All American Girl” Vonda Ward to capture the IBA light heavyweight title in the first round. Vonda was out cold before she hit the canvas and was down for over 10 minutes. She later left the ring on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital for precautionary purposes where she stayed overnight. It is on youtube. See it for yourself. By the way, after recovering, Ward felt it still wasn’t time to retire from boxing and in December 2004, she returned to the ring and knocked out veteran Marsha Valley in four rounds.
There are many, many more (like Juan RoldanÕs KO of Frank “The Animal” Fletcher or AliÕs icing of Cleveland Williams), but the foregoing resonated (at least with me) more than most.