The five most iconic heavyweight knockouts of all time: George Foreman’s right hand devastated opponents… but can anyone outdo Muhammed Ali? JEFF POWELL gives his verdict
Anthony Joshua dealt a devastating blow to the hopes of heavyweight newbie Francis Ngannou on Friday evening in Saudi Arabia.
The victory confirmed the British boxer’s readiness to become a three-time world champion after overpowering the former UFC champion by putting him on the canvas three times.
Ngannou – who has emerged as a new emerging threat in boxing after upsetting Tyson Fury himself in their December showdown – was no match for the Brit, who has recaptured some of his old fear factor with a statement -victory.
The way the fight ended was reminiscent of some of the sport’s most brutal finishes.
Here are my picks of the five most sensational heavyweight knockouts in history, in descending order.
Joshua (right) knocked his opponent down three times in the first two rounds, landing a brutal right-handed hook on Ngannou (left) that knocked his opponent out
It was a big win for Joshua (left), who has worked hard to reinvent himself after his two defeats to Oleksandr Usyk
5. George Foreman – Michael Moorer
November 5, 1994 Las Vegas
Moorer had turned down the opportunity to fight Lennox Lewis for the unified world heavyweight championship. He said the titles didn’t interest him much, but more likely he wasn’t interested at all in fighting our Lennox in his prime.
That decision did not save Moorer. Big George returned from nearly a decade’s retirement and declared such an intense determination to redeem himself from his Rumble In The Jungle humiliation at the hands of Ali twenty years earlier that he donned a replica of the shorts The Greatest wore that night had won.
Moorer, 19 years younger, charged ahead on all the first laps. The tenth Moorer, tired from his attempts to finish Foreman, went looking for the KO. Oops. Rope-a-dope revisited.
He walked up Big George’s right side. His clumsy attempts to defeat the count ended in a crumpled heap. At 45 years and 360 days, Foreman became the oldest heavyweight ever to win a world title.
George Foreman (left) became the oldest heavyweight champion to win a world title after the brutal defeat to Michael Moorer
4. George Foreman – Joe Frazier
Kingston, Jamaica, January 22, 1973
Frazier, the ultimate warrior, had picked up the WBA and WBC world heavyweight tiles stripped from Muhammad Ali for refusing the draft to fight in the Vietnam War by knocking out the highly respected Jimmy Ellis.
Typically, Frazier agreed without hesitation to take on the formidable challenge of the also undefeated Foreman. His courage was unquestionable. His judgment, not so much. He would be knocked to the canvas six times in the first two rounds by fusillades of Foreman’s big punches.
The famous American television commentator Gil Glancy repeated the following: ‘Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier…’ There wasn’t much time to say anything else. After the fourth layoff at the start of the second round, Foreman yelled at Frazier’s corner, “If you don’t stop this fight, I’m going to kill your man.” Referee Arthur Mercante performed that humane service as a huge right knocked down Smokin’ Joe for the sixth and final time.
Muhammed Ali – then called Cassius Clay – delivered a short right hand to the jaw to drop Sonny Liston
3. Cassius Clay (as he was then) – Sonny Liston
February 25, 1964 Miami Beach
One of the most important stoppages in ring history didn’t even require a definitive finishing blow from the precocious young man also known as the Louisville Lip.
Ali, as he would become before their rematch, was an 8-1 underdog against the most fearsome figure in boxing at the time, who had just knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round to become heavyweight champion of the world.
Henry Cooper, as British champion, was offered a fight with Liston, but his manager Jim Wicks said: ‘We don’t even want to face Liston on the street.’ Clay drove to Liston’s home street in Denver at 3 a.m. the day the contract was signed and woke him up by yelling, “Get out of there, you big ugly bear.”
Liston’s scare continued when Clay said he would donate the bear to the zoo after defeating him. Liston was physically an immense specimen, but lacked the intelligence to deal with ‘this crazy child’.
Clay admitted that he was scared right before the fight, but that he was victorious when he survived the first big blow. In contrast, the longer it went on, Liston was increasingly unable to mentally process Clay’s antics, let alone his lightning-fast hand and foot for a heavyweight.
Clay had made the first of his famous predictions: “The bear is going in eight.” He was proven a little wrong when, after a flurry of punches at the end of the sixth round, Liston stopped on his stool.
2. Mike Tyson – Michael Spinks
Atlantic City June 27, 1988
Tyson’s ferocious punches, perhaps the most powerful of all time, had given the youngest ever world heavyweight champion a boost.
Spinks was also undefeated and held a number of titles and was considered the People’s Champion in place of the young Iron Mike, who not only petrified most of his opponents, but also what America liked to think of as a civilized society.
Donald Trump settled arguments over the purse split – which ultimately came to $22 million for Tyson and $13.5 million for Spinks – to promote what would be the richest fight yet with a gross profit of $70 million.
Some closest to Spinks’ corner insisted they could smell the fear on him as he entered the ring. Not that Tyson needed further encouragement. A delayed start due to a false check of his gloves had angered him.
He jumped out of his corner at the first bell and hit his man with a left uppercut, followed by a crunching right to the body. Spinks rose at a count of four.
His only meaningful punch was dodged by Tyson, who promptly dropped him again with a left-right combination to the head. To stay. Within 91 seconds it was all over. Spinks later admitted that he had been afraid of Tyson. He wasn’t alone in his fears.
Mike Tyson finished his heavyweight match against Michael Spinks in 91 seconds in Atlantic City in 1988
The Rumble In The Jungle is one of the most iconic fights in boxing history and delivered an explosive ending as Ali dropped the favored Foreman
1. Muhammad Ali – George Foreman
Kinshasa, Zaire October 30, 1974
Extravagant promoter Don King’s legendary Rumble In The Jungle. The big men had to stay in Africa for five weeks longer after Foreman suffered an eye injury during sparring.
The locals kept drumming and singing all the time. The fanatical support for Ali reached its peak in the heaving, sweaty stadium on a wild night of fighting. He had kept them busy with his poetic prodding from Foreman, but the aging Greatest was a 4-1 underdog against the all-powerful, all-conquering Big George.
Ali confided to trainer Angelo Dundee shortly before the first bell that he had a secret but seemingly suicidal plan to stop this hitherto unstoppable force. Hello Rope-A-Dope. Ali lay back on the ropes for most of the first seven rounds, inviting Foreman to punch himself out, occasionally cutting his face with quick punches. Big George became both bewildered and weary.
As he began another attack early in the eighth, Ali whispered into the ear of one of the hardest punchers of all time, “Is that all you’ve got, George.” He then delivered a right hand slam that sent Foreman crashing to the canvas. Where he stayed.
The Greatest was also once again world heavyweight champion. The most watched television broadcast of its time attracted an estimated one billion viewers around the world. A documentary about the event – When We Were Kings – won an Oscar.