By Ted Sares:
“I knew I had the strength to knock him out in the 12th round.”
—Michael Grant
I hit him with the left hook and I looked down, and I saw that his legs were twitching, and I knew that the fight was over.
Nonito Donaire
The Holly Holm (30-2-3, 9-KOs) vs. Anne Sophie Mathis (26-1, 22-KOs) “World Dominance” fight is bothering me, and it should bother everyone with a stake in professional boxing.
Lisa Creech Bledsoe
Baring something unforeseen on December 30 (and with Jermaine Taylor fighting anything can happen insofar as a brutal KO is concerned), Michael “Big” Grant’s dramatic come-from-behind KO of Frans ‘the White Buffalo” Botha is my choice for KO of the Year for 2011. Botha had dominated the fight, nearly finishing off Grant in the 7th and 11th rounds, but “Big’ did the job with a withering right cross with just 37 seconds left in the fight that left the Buffalo down and out for several minutes. In the process, Grant claimed the vacant WBF title and got himself back into the heavyweight mix
Nonito Donaie’s near decapitation of Mexican Fernando “Cochulito” Montiel in February. was a close second. When Donaire decked Montiel for the first time in the second round, the fight should have been stopped right there and then. However, Referee Russell Mora “allowed” Montiel to stagger back to his feet to take more, albeit unnecessary, punishment Donaire finished off his helpless opponent with a malefic left hook .
Lost in the intrigue of “Eyegate” and the weekend jubilation of “Cottorama,” Holly Holm’s violent knockout loss to Anne Sophie Mathis of France in Albuquerque, New Mexico on December 2 was every bit as scary as Vonda Ward’s KO loss to Ann Wolfe several years ago. This fight has haunted me ever since I witnessed it; warning, it is not for the faint of heart.