The Six Greatest Punches In Ring History <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>#1) Sugar Ray Robinson KO’s Gene Fullmer (5). May 1, 1957 at Chicago. Ray had recently ended his two year retirement and recaptured the Middleweight crown. However, a young bulldog from Utah, Gene Fullmer, out punched and out muscled Ray over 15 rounds to register a stunning upset on January 2. In their return four months later in Chicago, the pattern was the same over the first three rounds, with Fullmer forcing the action, scoring repeatedly to Robinson’s head and body. Ray came on in the fourth yet Fullmer was still in there pitching midway through round five when the Sugarman saw an opening. “His jaw looked as big as the Presidents on Mount Rushmore” he said afterwards. A lightening bolt of a left hook knocked Fullmer senseless and Sugar Ray was a champion again, perhaps the most dramatic single moment in ring history. #2) Rocky Marciano KO’s Jersey Joe Walcott (13) September 23, 1952 at Philadelphia Rocky was undeniably the number one heavyweight contender when he climbed through the ropes to square off with “Old Pappy,” Jersey Joe Walcott, making his second championship defense at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia. Yet Walcott was no senior citizen that night. He decked Marciano with a classic left hook in the opening heat, hurting the challenger from Brockton. Rocky rallied to get himself back into the bout yet Walcott was scoring heavily and piling up the points, building an insurmountable lead on the officials scorecards. Trickling blood from his eye, Rocky seemed destined to lose a hard fought decision. Yet Walcott got too cagey, permitting himself to be backed into a corner early in the 13th session. Jersey Joe started a right yet Marciano threw the perfect punch, a time bomb of a short right hand that exploded flush against the Champion’s jaw. Rocky’s follow-up left hook was an afterthought for the championship had changed hands. #3) Jack Johnson KO's Stanley Ketchel (12) October 16, 1909 at Colma, California. The bout was a gentleman’s agreement. Johnson would carry Ketchel, as long as the great Middleweight champion didn’t take liberties. The contest followed this pattern for 11 rounds. Johnson had Ketchel down early, and the Michigan Assassin stung Jack a few times. Yet Johnson was fighting his fight, laid back and defensive, scoring at will yet doing no real damage. Early in the 12th round, Ketchel, who knew he was along for a ride, could not resist one of the numerous openings a disdainful Johnson was affording him. He exploded a powerful right against Johnson’s head and thumped the champion unceremoniously to the canvas. For a fleeting moment a staggering upset seemed within reach. Than Johnson got to his feet and met the charging Ketchel head on with a right uppercut comprised of every ounce of his power, straight from the floor. Ketchel was knocked unconscious, with several of his teeth embedded in Johnson’s glove. One of boxoing’s most unforgettable, and brutal knockouts! #4) Ingmar Johansson KO’s Floyd Patterson (3) June 25, 1959 at Yankee Stadium. Johansson was the number one ranked heavyweight contender, as well as the reigning European Heavyweight Titleholder. Somehow his sensational first round, three knockdown slaughter of the previous top ranked contender, Eddie Machen, didn’t convince the working press that Ingo was a threat to Patterson. Floyd had tasted the canvas against an amateur, Pete Rademacher, and had been dumped by Roy Harris as well in earlier defenses. There was skepticism about Patterson, who was looked askance in the wake of the great Marciano. However, the odds makers thought less of Johansson, and made him a 5 to 1 short ender. For two rounds the Swede threw over 200 flicking left jabs that skittered against Floyd’s head like fireflies on a summer evening. Once he unleashed the right, and it clipped the top of Floyd’s head late in the second stanza with no apparent effect. Seventeen seconds into round three, Ingo threw a pushing left hook and the sleepy Patterson left himself open. In a split second Johansson’s right crashed into the Champion’s forehead, smashing him to the canvas. Floyd, unconscious on his feet, arose at 9 and groped around the ring. Ingo’s Bingo produced seven knockdowns in two minutes and for the first time in 26 years the heavyweight title was in European hands. #5) Floyd Patterson KO’s Ingemar Johansson (5) Jun 20, 1960 at the Polo Grounds. For a long while it seemed Patterson would not get an opportunity to reclaim the crown. The 90 day return clause was not invoked and for several months the return bout was homeless. Finally the contract was drawn and Floyd, who had seethed with disdain for his conqueror, would get a chance to avenge his humiliating defeat. Johansson was the favorite this time and the near unanimous choice of the working press. The former champion had changed. His warm personality was replaced with an air of great determination. Ingemar was confident, as always, that the first time “Toonder” hit the mark Patterson would be a goner. Yet Floyd dominated from the onset, except for a fleeting moment early in the second session when Johansson landed a chopping right hand off the ropes the buckled Floyd’s knees and sent him into a 90 second retreat. Patterson was not battering the titleholder, yet through rounds three and four he kept Ingo off balance with a persistent and hard left jab. Early in round five Floyd rocked Johansson with a short right hand on the ropes, smashed a left hook to the body and decked the Swede for a nine count with a tremendous left hook to the jaw. Johansson got to his feet and was subject to a two fisted attack until Patterson unloaded the most memorable left hook in boxing history, a clout that landed flush on Johansson’s jaw and stretched him unconscious on the canvas for nearly fifteen minutes. It wasn’t the great left hook thrown, yet it produced a moment frozen in the annals of boxing history, Johansson’s quivering left foot and Patterson exultant at having defied the jinx, the first former heavyweight champion to regain the title. #6) Joe Frazier D15 over Muhammad Ali. March 7, 1971 at Madison Square Garden. Ali was coming back, courtesy of a Supreme Court verdict overturning his conviction for refusing to be inducted into the military. The great champion was coated with ring rust, and his victories of Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena, although tough, gave him little preparation to face a prime Joe Frazier. Yet the public demanded the bout and less than three months after struggling over 15 rounds with Bonavena Ali was at ring center facing the destructive and unbeaten Frazier. The fight was, and is, the “Fight Of The Century”. Ali was 80% of his former self yet he rained combinations against Frazier’s head from the opening bell. For ten rounds Muhammad seemed to have a small edge and the momentum was turning in his direction. Than disaster struck in round 11 as Frazier send Ali staggering, badly hurt, across the ring with a monster left hook that permanently pointed the bout in Joe’s favor. Midway through the 15th round Joe “went home” for a sweeping left hook, the greatest punch he ever threw. Ali took the punch flush and went down, flat on his back. In a near instant he was on his feet, and was fighting back at the bell. Joe got the well deserved verdict. It was the defining moment in the greatest bout of all time.</div>
All of Iron Mikes punches were punches to remember!! loved the guy until he started screwing with himself and hiring Don as his manager.
