By the time American boxing fans discovered the whirling dervish of devastation nicknamed 'The Dark Destroyer', Nigel Benn had already treated Britain's maniacal sports fans to some of the most breathtaking and exciting moments in recent memory. He was twenty-two fights into his career before he ever had to wait around to hear the judges scorecard. Every opponent before then crumbled at some point in the fight. Half of them didn't make it out of the first round.
His victories usually resembled a one-man Dionysian ritual of chaos and conquering, a flirtation with doom that would have seemed pathological had it not been conducted with the utter fearlessness of a Viking marauder. Stunningly reckless, altogether unconcerned about his own well being, willing to get hit, willing to get hurt, and willing to give himself no choice but to fight his way out of the hole he dug for himself. And by god he seemed to love every second of it!
Lacking any noticable interest in defense early on, Benn possessed a tremendous equalizer inside his gloves.
When in trouble, he punched back.
Hard.
Often, those punches rescued him from imminent disaster, and even more often they put his ill-fated opponents flat on their backs. So the Brits already knew about Nigel by the time those of us here in America caught on. They had seen him come within mere seconds of being stopped by Anthony Logan, only to fire off a left hook that he swung, almost literally, from the floor - a punch that sent Logan to the canvas so hard he looked like he'd jumped off a building. They knew about his persona, that of an all-action basher who tried with complete sincerity to decapitate whomever was unlucky enough to be in the ring with him. And they knew that as his opponent lay there unconscious he could be counted on to flash that mischievous grin of his while he flexed his biceps and showed off his remarkably sculpted physique.
In his day, nobody - and I mean nobody - loved being a fighter more than Nigel Benn. And the fans of Britain loved him like crazy.
But after suffering his first painful loss, one that appeared to have come almost from sheer exhaustion as Benn collapsed after absorbing a jab - yes, a jab - from Michael Watson, Benn decided to regroup, intensify his training, perhaps even learn to duck a shot or two. Bob Arum was only too happy to bring him to America, proclaiming him to be 'the British Marvin Hagler', and promising American fight fans a very special treat. The Hagler reference was questionable - though if Benn had possessed a sturdier chin, who knows? But give Arum credit on the other part of his statement. He certainly wasn't wrong there.
After a few tune-up fights in Atlantic City and Vegas in which he beat Jorge Amparo and destroyed Jose Quinones, Benn nearly hit a roadblock with the steel-chinned Sanderline Williams, a journeyman known not for winning fights but for surviving every slugger he faced, which also included future Benn opponent Gerald McClellan. Benn managed to win on points, but his momentum stalled just a bit. His next fight though, against the rugged Doug DeWitt, set him back on course, with Benn blasting DeWitt out for good in the eigth round for the WBO middleweight title, and he did so in wonderfully exciting fashion. But it was his next opponent that had fight fans giddy with delight.
Although Iran Barkley had lost his two previous bouts, including a classic back and forth slugfest with legend Roberto Duran, he was still one of the more dangerous middleweights in the game. His sheer size alone was frightening. A man who could easily balloon up to a full-blown heavyweight in between fights, Barkley possessed a punch that was much more damaging than his knockout ratio suggested. Years after his fight with Benn, when Barkley was considerably beyond his prime, he hit James Toney so hard that Toney would later proclaim 'I felt that sh*t two weeks later.' Barkley was a dangerous fighter, and highlight reels of his wicked knockout of Tommy Hearns played on newscasts constantly in the days leading up to the fight.
On the scorching hot Las Vegas afternoon of August 18th, 1990, with ABC's Wide World of Sports broadcasting the fight coast to coast, Nigel Benn (26-1 with 24 KO's) and Iran Barkley (25-6 with 16 KO's) met in the ring. Arum had already humorously gone on record saying that it was a waste of money to hire judges for the fight, and indeed, not a soul expected it to go the distance. It's doubtful, however, that anyone thought the fight would be as brief as it was.
Some have commented on Barkley's demeanor in the moments before the fight, suggesting that he was intimidated by Benn. Those familiar with Barkley and his fierce reputation dating back to his days in street gangs would refute the notion. Iran wasn't called 'The Blade' for nothing. As a youth he was known to be very quick with a knife. If anything, it was the problems Barkley had with his eye that concerned him, fearing a return of his detatched retina. And on top of that, it was well known that Barkley's father had died just a week before. Whatever the truth may be, Barkley did not look like a man who wanted to be inside the ring. And a split second after the opening bell it was understandable why.
Displaying the same kind of crazed bravado the British fans knew so well, Benn immediately ran up to Barkley and slammed a vicious right hand into the side of his head, stagerring his much bigger opponent instantly. A flurry of brutal punches followed. Although Barkley was firing back Benn seemed the stronger of the two and repeatedly charged into Barkley. After pushing him to the ropes Benn landed a sweeping overhand right that sent Barkley falling momentarily to the canvas. Although it was a knockdown, Barkley hopped back to his feet before the referee could intervene. Benn, naturally, hit him again, this time it appeared on the back of the head. The referee, Jose Padillia, gave Barkley the standing eight count, and then the match got really entertaining.
Benn jumped on him again and landed with success, his underrated handspeed firing off blistering shots, but as always he was careless with his defense and Barkley fired a perfect left hook that shook Benn to his knees. Wobbling backwards clear across the ring, Benn found himself on the receiving end of Barkley's punches, and while they may not have came with the speed and fury of his own they were scoring nonetheless. Benn retaliated, but moments later was blasted with another left that seemed like it might send him through the ropes; he was clearly in bad shape. And just as he had done back home in England, he found that the best solution was simply to keep punching back. While Barkley was still pressing the action, and with Benn still on shaky legs, the Dark Destroyer landed a beautiful uppercut that stunned Barkley. Another flurry followed and soon they were in the center of the ring trading blows back and forth.
But Benn's superior handspeed paid off, and a brilliant combination sent Barkley to the canvas again, and much harder than before. This time, Benn didn't wait for Barkley to rise before throwing another punch. While Barkley was still on all fours Benn fired another right hand against Barkley's head, which nearly toppled him over. When the fight was over Benn would claim he had no memory of hitting Barkley while he was down and frankly, given the adrenalin-fueled insanity that seemed to possess him, it sounds believable. He was clearly so determined to destroy Barkley that he probably paid little attention to insignificant details like whether his opponent was up on two feet or down on his hands and knees. Still, Benn is lucky that there were no points deducted.
After Barkley arose, his very vocal corner going nuts over Benn's actions, he seemed despondant. It's not fair to say he looked beaten, because he didn't, but in the face of a man hell-bent on victory there appeared to be little fire inside of Barkley. Maybe he misjudged the scenario. After all, he had taken a horrific beating from 'The Hitman' years earlier and come back to win. Perhaps he thought this would be no different. But as the fight resumed he allowed Benn to charge into him yet again, with Benn landing another brutal shot that sent him to the canvas for a third time just as the round was ending. Again, Barkley stood up immediately but this time his legs were very shaky. For a moment it looked as if the bell would save him, but the WBO rules called for a three-knockdown rule to be in effect. Though the referee seemed hesitant, the fight was waved off and Benn raisd his hands in victory.
In retrospect, it seems hard to believe that the fight lasted only three minutes. It had very distinct parts to it - Benn's hard charging initial onslaught that dropped Barkley, Barkley's comeback that had Benn in very serious trouble, and lastly Benn's recovery and victory. It had three official knockdowns, two unofficial but ridiculously blatant fouls, and more action in one round than you're likely to see in many entire twelve round matchups. Some may argue that out of all the KO victories Benn has scored, this doesn't qualify for a great 'knockout'. And it's true that Barkley was up and on his feet when the fight was stopped, rubber-legged but still capable of continuing. And it's certainly true that Nigel Benn has scored much more picturesque knockouts than this one. But this was a perfect microcosm of who Benn was in the early 90's, and as a historical document it serves that purpose nicely. Everything you could ever want to know about his popularity as a fighter is right here, packed into three minutes of delirium.
Benn would have a superfight back in England before 1990 was over, losing to his arch-nemisis Chris Eubank by TKO, and would see a successful rematch, which he should have won, marred by a controversial draw three years later.
So no, this fight with Barkley wasn't Benn's greatest performance; we all know what that was. Nearly five years later, when he was brought in to be the sacrificial lamb for Gerald McClellan, the young, rising star of Don King's stable, he stunned every boxing fan on both sides of the Atlantic by surviving a murderous barrage of punches in the opening moments of the first round, crawling back into the ring (at the count of nine, by the way, despite what some revisionists here in America would have you think) only to stagger McClellan badly in round four and go on to fight one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport, emerging triumphant in the tenth. But that Nigel Benn was different from the buzzsaw that fought Barkley. He was older, a bit slower with his hands, more cagey in his defense, a little less of an uncontrolled Uzi and more like a precise shotgun. Unfortunately, the tragic aftermath of the fight overshadowed Benn's amazing accomplishment. People didn't want to think about what happened to McClellan, so they stopped thinking about Benn's performance as well. Perhaps now that more than a decade has passed and the fight is available for viewing by anyone on YouTube, a proper reappraisal can emerge and a new generation can see one of the boxings all-time greatest showings.
Although he stayed in boxing a year too long and lost his final three fights in 1996, he remains one of the most beloved 'bad boy' figures of the modern era. And if you want to show someone the reasons why, and you only have three minutes to do so, look no further than his battle with Iran Barkley.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Julian Jackson KO4 Herol Graham
Considering that Julian Jackson was only a marginally popular fighter during his prime, it's all the more impressive that this fight, and this KO, have become almost mythical in boxing circles. It is easily one of the most fondly remembered and often discussed knockouts on the internet, and it has provided Jackson with at least some of the recognition that he mysteriously lacked while an active fighter.
Coming into this fight on November 24th, 1990 with a gaudy record of 41-1 (40), Jackson was a feared puncher but also a surprisingly under-appreciated one, considered to be both erratic (an earlier fight with little known Francisco De Jesus was tougher than expected before Jackson finished him in the 8th round) and more than a little bit sheltered by manager Don King. Despite having the scalp of a young Terry Norris on his record, Jackson found himself still paying the price for his second round TKO loss to Mike McCallum four years earlier. Writers also questioned the quality of his victories, considering them little more than King-sanctioned cannon fodder (Norris, it should be noted, had yet to gain his now legendary reputation for high-quality viciousness). After McCallum left the Junior Middleweight division, Jackson stepped up and took over, but many critics found this route unimpressive. An exciting fighter - sure, they said, but also one who was bound to be exposed whenever he faced a skillful boxer.
So when Jackson eventually decided to move up to the Middleweight division it was considered a major crapshoot. Two newcomers, James Toney and Roy Jones Jr. were already making waves at 160lbs. Chris Eubank had a title, but with a granite chin and a hard punch himself he was quite a risk, as was his fellow Brit Nigel Benn, a hard charging brawler who might easily walk into a Jackson punch and turn to jelly or who might well bludgeon the smaller Jackson out in one or two rounds, as he did with the gigantic Iran Barkley in 1990. McCallum was there for a possible rematch, but few thought the outcome would be different. British contender Herol Graham seemed a good but safe choice for Jackson to test the middleweight waters.
An awkward southpaw with a wide stance and lightening fast reflexes, Graham (who was 45-2 with 29 KO's at the time of the fight) was almost a stereotypical lefty. Lacking one-punch knockout power of his own (though he was by no means feather-fisted), he frustrated his opponents into near madness with his quick, in-and-out jabs and counter shots. And while his unusual stance made it look as if his balance was precarious at times, his footwork was in fact excellent. Don King, among others, surely thought that while Graham might outbox Jackson, he was unlikely to offer any physical danger.
And for the entire first round, Graham outboxed Jackson beautifully and methodically. Almost immediately after the opening bell Graham performed as expected, ripping off flurries of combinations, popping jabs and straight lefts into Jackson's face before easily ducking and dodging his much feared right crosses. Though Jackson was the one moving forward he was completely unable to find any rhythm at all, looking flatfooted and confused. In round two, however, it got worse.
Much worse.
Starting out no differently than round one had, Graham seemed cautious of Jackson's power yet fully in charge, and though his hands seemed dangerously low at times he nevertheless bobbed and weaved his way around the relatively few punches Jackson threw. And then, less than a minute into the round, Graham landed the punch that turned the fight into overdrive, a picture-perfect hybrid of left cross/uppercut that blasted Jackson's left eye, closing it instantly. Jackson backed off against the ropes, badly hurt, and Graham jumped on him.
Jackson had already experienced serious trouble with his right eye in the past, suffering a detatched retina. In fact, this fight with Graham took place in Spain because the British boxing commision refused to allow Jackson to fight in England due to the injury. Now, Jackson's other eye was closed so tightly he looked as if he were doing a Popeye impersonation.
Graham quickly became the essence of controlled aggression, pummeling Jackson from one side of the ring to the other. Every so often Jackson would fire off a scary looking right hand, but he hit nothing but air. Within seconds Jackson turned to a southpaw stance himself, desperate to have his left eye as far from Herol Graham's punches as possible. It did little good. Graham, looking like a power puncher himself, repeatedly backed Jackson against the ropes and unleashed shots with laser accuracy.
By the time the second round ended it was clear that Jackson was in serious trouble.
Round three became a nightmare for Jackson, the kind of one-sided beatdown he hadn't experienced since the closing moments of his loss to McCallum. Jackson, still fighting with his right hand in front of him and clearly not accustomed to throwing it as a hook, looked solemn as he swung at the air time and time again, finding nothing there. A minute and a half into the round Graham fired off a right-left combo directly onto Jackson's swollen eye that sent the American back on his heels, and once again Graham managed to push Jackson against the ropes and score at will. The boxer had become the aggressor, pursuing the knockout with the cold-blooded mentality of a killer. The puncher, on the other hand, had become little more than a heavy bag.
Jackson escaped the third round, but was blind in one eye, badly dazed and had offered up nothing that even remotely suggested he could continue successfully against the 'Bomber'. As had happened with McCallum four years before, it seemed as if Jackson was about to go down in flames against a technically superior opponent.
Before the fourth round began the ringside doctors spent an inordinately long time looking at Jackson's injuries. The commentators who were calling the fight for television stated that there was to be only one more round permitted before the fight was stopped and they went to the scorecards, which would have been a very moot point since Jackson had landed virtually no punches at all for the entire fight while being battered by Graham. This was as uncompetitive as a title fight could get.
Though Jackson was allowed to continue it was clear that the end was near, and again Herol Graham dominated the match. Though Jackson made a slight effort to bull-rush him and try and overpower Graham, he was met with still more flurries that he simply couldn't answer. Graham spun Jackson around at one point, sending him to the canvas on all fours. Though he got up, his body language was that of absolute bewilderment. He simply had no idea what to do. Graham continued on, landing quick shots from all angles, busting Jackson's eye every chance he got.
And then it happened - the moment that KO lovers know all too well.
After Graham tied Jackson up again, spinning him around once more, referee Joe Cortez seperated them. Graham then landed several more punishing blows and Jackson backed up against the corner ropes. Some have questioned Graham's choice to follow him there, but Graham had repeatedly walked right into Jackson's range for the entire fight with no consequences at all. They have also accused Graham of greedily seeking a knockout when he should have simply boxed until the round was over. But again, Jackson was so hurt and so seemingly out of it that any fighter with a killer instinct in them would have found wounded prey like this too tempting to ignore. Keep in mind that Graham was already part of a long line of Britain's 'loveable losers' - boxers who were very talented but always seemed to come up just a hair short when it came to world titles (Graham had, incidentally, also lost a title shot to McCallum previously). To take out the much feared Julian Jackson would have increased the value of his stock considerably. Jackson looked helpless and ready to go, and Graham was merely trying to send him there. He can't be blamed for that.
With approximately thrity seconds left in the round, half a minute away from being awarded the WBC Middleweight title, Herol Graham again walked into Jackson's range - and was hit with a counter right hand every bit as gruesome as the punch Marciano landed against Walcott, every ounce as devastating as the shot Lennox Lewis took out Hasim Rahman with in their 2002 rematch.
But those were heavyweights, you say. Yes, they were.
It was that kind of punch.
Jackson threw the shot purely by instinct, and the replay showed that it caught Graham very close to the tip of his chin. Had he kept his distance only slightly Graham might well have been able to pull away from Jackson's 'Hail Mary' swing.
But he didn't, and the sight of Graham's eyes rolling back into his skull, his unconscious body crashing to the canvas like a department store mannequin being pushed over, remains an image that no fight fan will soon forget. Chilling in the extreme, it has been the main piece of evidence for those who claim that Julian Jackson, pound for pound, was the greatest one-punch KO artist in boxing history. Seeing a boxer knocked out is a common sight: seeing a boxer knocked out the way so many of Jackson's opponents were knocked out is much more rare. 'The Hawk' had a unique gift for inflicting deep sleep on his opponents, and Graham was only the most memorable in a long, long line of victims.
Herol Graham would fight on for a while after this bout, but this was a close as he would ever come to the Middleweight championship, and one can only wonder if the pain of having the belt slip right out of your hands isn't far greater than the bruised jaw he felt the morning after.
You hear it said about a lot of fighters that they can 'change the fight with one punch'. Sometimes that's true, other times it's more hype than reality. Julian Jackson was an extremely exceptional breed - and one that, frankly, hasn't really been seen since. Perhaps Kelly Pavlik might turn out to be as special - we'll see. But for now, Jackson stands almost in his own catagory of KO artist, one who possessed a mind-numbing amount of destructive power in both hands, and carried with him one of the greatest right crosses ever to be found on a pugilist.
Jackson would fight on long past his better days, with his last truly competitive bout coming three years after Graham, when he took on the younger (and much bigger) Gerald McClellan. Though hurt almost immediately, Jackson would nail McClellan with a left hook that shook the challenger badly, and they'd trade massive shots back and forth for five rounds. In the end however Jackson succumbed to a vicious knockout that, ideally, should have led him to hang up the gloves.
While the career of Julian Jackson ended in less-than-stellar circumstances, the legacy of broken, battered, and unconscious victims he left at his feet will not only refuse to fade away from the public's memory, but will in fact - as this incredible fight shows all too well - merely grow more awe-inspiring with age.
Coming into this fight on November 24th, 1990 with a gaudy record of 41-1 (40), Jackson was a feared puncher but also a surprisingly under-appreciated one, considered to be both erratic (an earlier fight with little known Francisco De Jesus was tougher than expected before Jackson finished him in the 8th round) and more than a little bit sheltered by manager Don King. Despite having the scalp of a young Terry Norris on his record, Jackson found himself still paying the price for his second round TKO loss to Mike McCallum four years earlier. Writers also questioned the quality of his victories, considering them little more than King-sanctioned cannon fodder (Norris, it should be noted, had yet to gain his now legendary reputation for high-quality viciousness). After McCallum left the Junior Middleweight division, Jackson stepped up and took over, but many critics found this route unimpressive. An exciting fighter - sure, they said, but also one who was bound to be exposed whenever he faced a skillful boxer.
So when Jackson eventually decided to move up to the Middleweight division it was considered a major crapshoot. Two newcomers, James Toney and Roy Jones Jr. were already making waves at 160lbs. Chris Eubank had a title, but with a granite chin and a hard punch himself he was quite a risk, as was his fellow Brit Nigel Benn, a hard charging brawler who might easily walk into a Jackson punch and turn to jelly or who might well bludgeon the smaller Jackson out in one or two rounds, as he did with the gigantic Iran Barkley in 1990. McCallum was there for a possible rematch, but few thought the outcome would be different. British contender Herol Graham seemed a good but safe choice for Jackson to test the middleweight waters.
An awkward southpaw with a wide stance and lightening fast reflexes, Graham (who was 45-2 with 29 KO's at the time of the fight) was almost a stereotypical lefty. Lacking one-punch knockout power of his own (though he was by no means feather-fisted), he frustrated his opponents into near madness with his quick, in-and-out jabs and counter shots. And while his unusual stance made it look as if his balance was precarious at times, his footwork was in fact excellent. Don King, among others, surely thought that while Graham might outbox Jackson, he was unlikely to offer any physical danger.
And for the entire first round, Graham outboxed Jackson beautifully and methodically. Almost immediately after the opening bell Graham performed as expected, ripping off flurries of combinations, popping jabs and straight lefts into Jackson's face before easily ducking and dodging his much feared right crosses. Though Jackson was the one moving forward he was completely unable to find any rhythm at all, looking flatfooted and confused. In round two, however, it got worse.
Much worse.
Starting out no differently than round one had, Graham seemed cautious of Jackson's power yet fully in charge, and though his hands seemed dangerously low at times he nevertheless bobbed and weaved his way around the relatively few punches Jackson threw. And then, less than a minute into the round, Graham landed the punch that turned the fight into overdrive, a picture-perfect hybrid of left cross/uppercut that blasted Jackson's left eye, closing it instantly. Jackson backed off against the ropes, badly hurt, and Graham jumped on him.
Jackson had already experienced serious trouble with his right eye in the past, suffering a detatched retina. In fact, this fight with Graham took place in Spain because the British boxing commision refused to allow Jackson to fight in England due to the injury. Now, Jackson's other eye was closed so tightly he looked as if he were doing a Popeye impersonation.
Graham quickly became the essence of controlled aggression, pummeling Jackson from one side of the ring to the other. Every so often Jackson would fire off a scary looking right hand, but he hit nothing but air. Within seconds Jackson turned to a southpaw stance himself, desperate to have his left eye as far from Herol Graham's punches as possible. It did little good. Graham, looking like a power puncher himself, repeatedly backed Jackson against the ropes and unleashed shots with laser accuracy.
By the time the second round ended it was clear that Jackson was in serious trouble.
Round three became a nightmare for Jackson, the kind of one-sided beatdown he hadn't experienced since the closing moments of his loss to McCallum. Jackson, still fighting with his right hand in front of him and clearly not accustomed to throwing it as a hook, looked solemn as he swung at the air time and time again, finding nothing there. A minute and a half into the round Graham fired off a right-left combo directly onto Jackson's swollen eye that sent the American back on his heels, and once again Graham managed to push Jackson against the ropes and score at will. The boxer had become the aggressor, pursuing the knockout with the cold-blooded mentality of a killer. The puncher, on the other hand, had become little more than a heavy bag.
Jackson escaped the third round, but was blind in one eye, badly dazed and had offered up nothing that even remotely suggested he could continue successfully against the 'Bomber'. As had happened with McCallum four years before, it seemed as if Jackson was about to go down in flames against a technically superior opponent.
Before the fourth round began the ringside doctors spent an inordinately long time looking at Jackson's injuries. The commentators who were calling the fight for television stated that there was to be only one more round permitted before the fight was stopped and they went to the scorecards, which would have been a very moot point since Jackson had landed virtually no punches at all for the entire fight while being battered by Graham. This was as uncompetitive as a title fight could get.
Though Jackson was allowed to continue it was clear that the end was near, and again Herol Graham dominated the match. Though Jackson made a slight effort to bull-rush him and try and overpower Graham, he was met with still more flurries that he simply couldn't answer. Graham spun Jackson around at one point, sending him to the canvas on all fours. Though he got up, his body language was that of absolute bewilderment. He simply had no idea what to do. Graham continued on, landing quick shots from all angles, busting Jackson's eye every chance he got.
And then it happened - the moment that KO lovers know all too well.
After Graham tied Jackson up again, spinning him around once more, referee Joe Cortez seperated them. Graham then landed several more punishing blows and Jackson backed up against the corner ropes. Some have questioned Graham's choice to follow him there, but Graham had repeatedly walked right into Jackson's range for the entire fight with no consequences at all. They have also accused Graham of greedily seeking a knockout when he should have simply boxed until the round was over. But again, Jackson was so hurt and so seemingly out of it that any fighter with a killer instinct in them would have found wounded prey like this too tempting to ignore. Keep in mind that Graham was already part of a long line of Britain's 'loveable losers' - boxers who were very talented but always seemed to come up just a hair short when it came to world titles (Graham had, incidentally, also lost a title shot to McCallum previously). To take out the much feared Julian Jackson would have increased the value of his stock considerably. Jackson looked helpless and ready to go, and Graham was merely trying to send him there. He can't be blamed for that.
With approximately thrity seconds left in the round, half a minute away from being awarded the WBC Middleweight title, Herol Graham again walked into Jackson's range - and was hit with a counter right hand every bit as gruesome as the punch Marciano landed against Walcott, every ounce as devastating as the shot Lennox Lewis took out Hasim Rahman with in their 2002 rematch.
But those were heavyweights, you say. Yes, they were.
It was that kind of punch.
Jackson threw the shot purely by instinct, and the replay showed that it caught Graham very close to the tip of his chin. Had he kept his distance only slightly Graham might well have been able to pull away from Jackson's 'Hail Mary' swing.
But he didn't, and the sight of Graham's eyes rolling back into his skull, his unconscious body crashing to the canvas like a department store mannequin being pushed over, remains an image that no fight fan will soon forget. Chilling in the extreme, it has been the main piece of evidence for those who claim that Julian Jackson, pound for pound, was the greatest one-punch KO artist in boxing history. Seeing a boxer knocked out is a common sight: seeing a boxer knocked out the way so many of Jackson's opponents were knocked out is much more rare. 'The Hawk' had a unique gift for inflicting deep sleep on his opponents, and Graham was only the most memorable in a long, long line of victims.
Herol Graham would fight on for a while after this bout, but this was a close as he would ever come to the Middleweight championship, and one can only wonder if the pain of having the belt slip right out of your hands isn't far greater than the bruised jaw he felt the morning after.
You hear it said about a lot of fighters that they can 'change the fight with one punch'. Sometimes that's true, other times it's more hype than reality. Julian Jackson was an extremely exceptional breed - and one that, frankly, hasn't really been seen since. Perhaps Kelly Pavlik might turn out to be as special - we'll see. But for now, Jackson stands almost in his own catagory of KO artist, one who possessed a mind-numbing amount of destructive power in both hands, and carried with him one of the greatest right crosses ever to be found on a pugilist.
Jackson would fight on long past his better days, with his last truly competitive bout coming three years after Graham, when he took on the younger (and much bigger) Gerald McClellan. Though hurt almost immediately, Jackson would nail McClellan with a left hook that shook the challenger badly, and they'd trade massive shots back and forth for five rounds. In the end however Jackson succumbed to a vicious knockout that, ideally, should have led him to hang up the gloves.
While the career of Julian Jackson ended in less-than-stellar circumstances, the legacy of broken, battered, and unconscious victims he left at his feet will not only refuse to fade away from the public's memory, but will in fact - as this incredible fight shows all too well - merely grow more awe-inspiring with age.
An Introduction
The knockout is by far the most visceral of sports climaxes.
Sure, a slam dunk or an eighty yard touchdown will have a whole stadium on its feet, but when a fighter inside the ring gets hit with a punch that robs him of consciousness it produces an effect on the viewer like no other.
Some hate that effect, many more love it.
All are fascinated by it.
Whether it's exciting or disturbing, or in some cases both, this website is devoted to reliving some of the most devastating blows in the long history of the sport. Some of these KO's are well known, while others have been largely forgotten.
But they are all a testament to the nearly super-human courage required to step through the ropes and do battle, knowing that the end result might very well be a hard and fast crash landing to the canvas.
Sure, a slam dunk or an eighty yard touchdown will have a whole stadium on its feet, but when a fighter inside the ring gets hit with a punch that robs him of consciousness it produces an effect on the viewer like no other.
Some hate that effect, many more love it.
All are fascinated by it.
Whether it's exciting or disturbing, or in some cases both, this website is devoted to reliving some of the most devastating blows in the long history of the sport. Some of these KO's are well known, while others have been largely forgotten.
But they are all a testament to the nearly super-human courage required to step through the ropes and do battle, knowing that the end result might very well be a hard and fast crash landing to the canvas.
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