The June 2011 issue of The Ring magazine contains a fascinating compilation titled ?One and Done! The 20 Greatest One-Punch Knockouts of All Time,? by Eric Raskin. No. 1 on Raskin?s list is Rocky Marciano?s electrifying 13th-round kayo of Jersey Joe Walcott. Others include Sergio Martinez? two-round blowout of Paul Williams, Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman?s knockouts of each other in successive fights, Sugar Ray Robinson?s fifth-round flattening of Gene Fullmer, and Mike Tyson?s left hook that made Trevor Berbick fall down three times.
With lists like these, there?s always going to be dissent. People are going to complain about memorable one-punch chill jobs that didn?t make the cut. If not complain, at least express surprise.
Raskin is an excellent boxing writer and historian, so I?m not going to complain about his picks. I am, however, surprised that he did not include Joe Louis?s fourth-round kayo of Paolino Uzcudun on December 13, 1935.
At that time, Louis was not yet world heavyweight champion, but he had established himself as a lethal-punching, undefeated young contender on a meteoric rise. Uzcudun was over the hill, but he could boast that in 69 bouts before this one, he had never been stopped. He had crossed gloves with most of the best heavyweights of the 1920s and ?30s, with his best win being a 20-round decision over future champ Max Baer.
No one thought Uzcudun could beat the man who was already being called ?The Brown Bomber.? The betting was on whether Uzcudun would keep his never-before-kayoed streak intact against Louis, who had in his most recent fight stopped the then ex-champ Baer in four.
In his book Champion: Joe Louis, Black Hero in White America, Chris Mead quotes a reminiscence of Louis-Uzcudun by Harry Markson, who later became a promoter for Madison Square Garden:
?Louis kept popping away, popping away, but his [Uzcudun?s] arms were always there. Finally, in the fourth round, Louis sort of stepped back and Uzcudun separated his arms like this to see where the hell Joe was and in that infinitesimal fraction of a second Louis lashed out with a right-hand punch that lifted this 200-pound Uzcudun right off his feet and deposited him on the other side of the ring. His head bounced off the lower rope. And when he finally climbed to his feet, at eight or nine, his face was smashed and Art Donovan had to stop the fight. I can?t begin to describe that punch. I still see it after all these years. When they talk about a devastating blow, this was the hardest punch I?ve ever seen thrown.?
So, which of Raskin?s entries would I have bumped in order to get Louis?s knockout of Uzcudun in? That?s a tough decision. All of Raskin?s picks are good. However, his list includes another of Sugar Ray Robinson?s one-punch kayoes: a third-round stoppage of Rocky Graziano. Since Robinson?s knockout of Fullmer is already Raskin?s No. 2, behind Marciano-Walcott, I?d drop Robinson-Graziano and replace it with Louis-Uzcudun.
Or, I would have expanded the list to 21. Either way, I just cannot see a best-one-punch- knockout roster that doesn?t have Joe Louis?s name on it.
Charles R. Saunders is the author of several books including Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers in the Maritimes from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace, as well as the Imaro series of fantasy/adventure novels. Considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on boxing in Canada, he is the current Vice-President of Boxing for the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers.
