Anthony Joshua dealt a devastating blow to end the hopes of heavyweight rookie Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on Friday night.
The victory confirmed the British boxer’s readiness to become a three-time world champion after shocking the former UFC champion by knocking him to the canvas three times.
Ngannou, who emerged as a new emerging threat in boxing after he himself put Tyson Fury on deck during their showdown in December, was no match for the Briton, who regained some of his old fear factor with a commanding victory. .
The way the fight concluded was reminiscent of some of the most brutal finishes in the sport.
Here are my picks for the five most sensational heavyweight knockouts in history in descending order.
Joshua (right) dropped his opponent three times in the first two rounds, landing a brutal right hook at Ngannou (left), knocking out his opponent.
It was a big win for Joshua (left), who has been working hard to reinvent himself after his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
5. George Foreman – Michael Moorer
November 5, 1994 Las Vegas
Moorer had turned down the chance to fight Lennox Lewis for the unified world heavyweight championship. He said the titles didn’t interest him much, but chances are he wasn’t interested in fighting our Lennox in his prime.
That decision did not save Moorer. Big George was returning from a nearly ten-year retirement and declaring such intense determination to redeem himself from the humiliation he suffered at Rumble In The Jungle at the hands of Ali two decades earlier that he donned a replica of the shorts won by The Greatest that night.
Moorer, 19 years younger, was ahead in every early round. The tenth arrived Moorer, tired of his efforts to finish off Foreman, went out to look for the KO. Oops. Rope-a-dope revisited.
He walked to Big George’s big right. His bewildered efforts to defeat the earl ended in a crumpled heap. At 45 years and 360 days, Foreman became the oldest heavyweight to win a world title.
George Foreman (left) became the oldest heavyweight champion to win a world title after his brutal knockdown over Michael Moorer.
4. George Foreman – Joe Frazier
Kingston, Jamaica January 22, 1973
Frazier, the ultimate warrior, had collected the WBA and WBC world heavyweight titles taken from Muhammad Ali for refusing to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War by knocking out the highly respected Jimmy Ellis.
As expected, Frazier accepted without hesitation to face the formidable challenge of the also undefeated Foreman. His courage was beyond doubt. His judgment not so much. He would be knocked to the canvas six times in the first two rounds by Foreman’s strong flurries of punches.
Renowned American television commentator Gil Glancy resorted to repeating: ‘Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier…’ There wasn’t much time to say anything else. After the fourth crush early in the second round, Foreman shouted to Frazier’s corner: “If you don’t stop this fight, I’m going to kill your guy.” Referee Arthur Mercante performed that human service when a huge right hand dropped Smokin’ Joe for the sixth and final time.
Muhammed Ali, then called Cassius Clay, threw a short right to the jaw to knock down Sonny Liston.
3. Cassius Clay (as he was then) – Sonny Liston
February 25, 1964 Miami Beach
One of the biggest stoppages in ring history didn’t even require a finishing blow from the precocious young man also known as Louisville Lip.
Ali, as he would be before their rematch, was an 8-1 underdog against the most terrifying figure in boxing at the time, who had just knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round to become world heavyweight champion.
Henry Cooper, as British champion, was offered to fight Liston, but his manager Jim Wicks said: “We don’t even want to meet Liston walking down the street.” Clay, at 3 a.m. on the day of the contract signing, drove to Liston’s home street in Denver and woke him up yelling at him to “get out of there, you big, ugly bear.”
Liston’s fear continued when Clay said he would donate the bear to the zoo after beating it. Liston was an immense physical specimen but lacked the intelligence to deal with “this crazy kid.”
Clay would admit that he was scared right before the fight, but he overcame it when he survived the first big blow. On the contrary, the more that went on, the more and more Liston was unable to mentally process Clay’s antics, much less his lightning speed of hands and feet for a heavyweight.
Clay had made the first of his famous predictions: “The Bear enters in eight.” He was proven slightly wrong when, after a flurry of punches at the end of the sixth round, Liston tapped out on him.
2. Mike Tyson – Michael Spinks
Atlantic City June 27, 1988
Tyson’s ferocious punches, arguably the most powerful of all time, had supercharged the youngest world heavyweight champion in history.
Spinks was also undefeated and held a pair of titles and was considered the People’s Champion in preference to the young Iron Mike, who petrified not only most of his opponents but also what America liked to consider a civilized society.
Donald Trump resolved discussions over the purse split, which ended in $22 million for Tyson and $13.5 million for Spinks, to promote what would become the highest-grossing fight in his Atlantic City casino. 70 million dollars so far.
Some closer to Spinks’ corner insisted they could smell the fear on him when he entered the ring. Not that Tyson needed any more encouragement. A delay in the start due to a spurious glove test had angered him.
He jumped out of his corner at the first bell and dropped his man with a left hook followed by a right to the body. Spinks got up at the count of four.
His only significant blow was dodged by Tyson, who quickly floored him again with a right left combination to the head. Stay. It was all over in 91 seconds. Spinks later admitted that he had been afraid of Tyson. I was not alone in my apprehension of him.
Mike Tyson finished his heavyweight clash 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 had an explosive finish when Ali knocked down favorite Foreman.
1. Muhammad Ali-George Foreman
Kinshasa, Zaire October 30, 1974
The legendary Rumble In The Jungle from flamboyant promoter Don King. The big men had to stay in Africa for an extra five weeks after Foreman suffered a cut eye during training.
The local population continued to drum and sing throughout the day. Fanatical support for Ali reached a crescendo in the hectic, sweaty stadium on a wild fight night. He had kept them entertained with his poetic goading of Foreman, but The aging Greatest was losing 4-1 against the all-powerful and all-conquering Big George.
Ali confided in coach 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 leaned on the ropes for most of the first seven rounds, inviting Foreman to punch himself while he occasionally slashed his face with quick punches. Big George felt bewildered and fatigued.
As he launched into another round at the start of the eighth, Ali whispered in the ear of one of the hardest hitters of all time: “Is that all you’ve got, George?” He then landed a right hand that sent Foreman crashing to the canvas. Where he stayed.
The Greatest also became world heavyweight champion again. The most watched television broadcast of the time garnered approximately one billion viewers worldwide. A documentary about the event, When We Were Kings, won an Oscar.