1. Antonio Tarver KO2 Roy Jones Jr II (2004)- This one had it all: It was a grudge match as Tarver claimed he was robbed in their close first fight. There was trash talking- When the referee asked them to shake hands, Tarver asked Jones if he had any excuses. It was a high stakes fight, as Jones, just two fights removed from winning a portion of the heavyweight title, still topped the pound-for-pound lists, and most of all, it had shock value… we couldn’t quite believe a wild Tarver left hook had Roy Jones… ROY JONES… laying under the ropes separated from his senses. Jones’ chin was never the same.
2. Manny Pacquiao KO2 Ricky Hatton (2009) – At the time, Hatton was the true world champion at 140 pounds (his loss to Floyd Mayweather was at 147). In the lead-up to this fight, Hatton credibly argued he was the stronger of the two boxers. After Pacquiao’s left hook left Hatton unconscious on the canvas, our perception of Pacquiao changed from a good little fighter to one of the all-time greats (subject to how this PED dispute plays out).
3&4. Hasim Rahman KO 5 Lennox Lewis and Lewis KO4 Rahman (2001)- Rahman shocked the boxing world with an upset in South Africa that turned the heavyweight division on its head instantaneously. Chaos and lawsuits ensued. Just a few months later, Lewis regained the world heavyweight championship with a left-right combination that felled Rahman. Ah the good old days, when the heavyweight division was exciting.
5. Kostya Tszyu TKO2 Zab Judah (2001)- This junior welterweight unification fight featured one of the funniest knockouts ever. Tszyu floored Judah just as the bell sounded to end the second round. A confused Judah got up and began to argue with referee Jay Nady only to fall back down again in mid-sentence.
6 . Shannon Briggs KO12 Sergei Lyakhovich (2006)- For the few fans who were able to stay awake for 11 rounds, 2 minutes and about 48 seconds of this stinker, they were rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence: a portion of the heavyweight title changing hands on a last-second knockdown. Lyakhovich filed a protest making every lame excuse imaginable, but Briggs knocking him through the ropes was fully legit.
7. Allan Green KO1 Jaidon Codrington (2005)- The stakes weren’t as high for this fight as the world title bouts that populate this list. But for sheer brutality, this one can’t be beat. It took Green only 18 seconds to leave Codrington draped over the ropes like a dead man. For promoter Lou DiBella and his staff, this one came just weeks after Leavander Johnson’s funeral and it brought back terrible memories. Thankfully, Codrington was fine and the compassionate DiBella allowed him plenty of time to recuperate before he joined The Contender reality show.
8. Kermit Cintron KO2 Walter D. Mathysse (2007)… Going into this fight, Cintron’s career was stuck in Bobby Bostick hell, having won the IBF title in front of about 300 people with no television. Main Events got him an HBO slot, and Cintron made the most of his moment, stepping up from titlist to A-level attraction with the most perfectly executed combination imaginable. The hand speed, the brute force, the head and foot movement could not have been better. Simply lethal.
9. Lennox Lewis KO9 Mike Tyson (2002) – In his next fight after regaining the world championship from Rahman, Lewis put a fearsome beatdown on Tyson. The normally reserved Emanuel Steward cursed at Lewis to finish Tyson off, and in the eighth round, Lewis finally did. What reasonates about this knockdown is that after the seventh round, Tyson was battered and cut in two places, and he knew he was in for an ass-whooping if he came out for the eighth. Tyson bravely marched out and accepted his fate, leaving us with the indelible image of him laying on his back, bleeding in three places and grimacing in pain. The classic example of going out on your shield.
10. Calvin Brock KO6 Zuri Lawrence (2006)- The closest you will ever come to seeing a guy fast asleep on his feet. One left hand by Brock, and Lawrence dropped to the canvas like water running out of a cup.
11. Arthur Abraham KO12 Jermain Taylor (2009)- A few of Abraham’s KOs could have made this list (his second fight vs. Edison Miranda, Khoren Gevor, Elvin Ayala) and so could Taylor’s knockout losses at the hands of Kelly Pavlik and Carl Froch. But Abraham-Taylor, at a packed 02 Arena in Berlin on opening night of Showtime’s Super Six tournament gets the nod. Abraham’s straight right hand not only ended Taylor’s night six seconds short of the final bell, it concussed him badly. It was one of the truly great moments in German boxing history.
12. Shane Mosley TKO9 Antonio Margarito (2009)- After getting caught trying to load up his handwraps, Margarito learned the hard way that payback really is a bitch.
