50 SHANNON BRIGGS KO12 SIARHEI LIAKHOVICH
November 4, 2006
THIS wasn’t even a good fight for 11 rounds and two minutes, not even close. But it scrapes the list due to the astonishing late drama. Briggs trailed by three points on two cards and a point on the other when the American had the Russian wobbling and then dropped him. Liakhovich dragged himself up, but Briggs looked too tired to finish him. Time was running out when Briggs sent Liakhovich crashing out of the ring and the fight was waved off – with one second left!
47 TYSON FURY KO 7 STEVE CUNNINGHAM
April 20, 2013
COMPLETE chaos as “The Gypsy King” came to Madison Square Garden. Dropped in the second by a hopeful right-hand swing he didn’t see coming, Fury was shaken up again in the fourth and the crowd were on their feet in the next as the rivals hurled punches at each other like a pair of Saturday night revellers settling a score. The size, chin and fighting heart of Fury pulled him through as he clobbered the former cruiserweight boss to the canvas in the seventh.
44 EVANDER HOLYFIELD TKO 10 MICHAEL DOKES
March 11, 1989
THIS ferocious fight swung one way, then the other – and then back again. Though the more tired of the two, Dokes was still landing punches until midway through the 10th when Holyfield smashed him dizzy with left hooks and the referee jumped in.
49 DAVID PEARCE KO 5 GORDON FERRIS
June 1, 1982
HARRY CARPENTER said this “didn’t resemble anything to do with boxing… it was on-the-cobbles stuff”. A fair assessment of a brawl won by Pearce, who outlasted Ferris, clobbering him to his knees for a fifth-round finish.
46 ANTHONY JOSHUA TKO 7 DILLIAN WHYTE
December 12, 2015
WHYTE won when they were novice amateurs and, after taking a socking in the opening round, had Joshua all over the place in the second round of their British title fight. But Whyte was too wild, and quickly too tired, to finish off Joshua and was blasted out with a spectacular uppercut in round seven.
43 DEREK CHISORA KO 8 CARLOS TAKAM
July 28, 2018
CHISORA had lost three of his previous six and spent much of this fight under fire, so much so plenty wanted it to be stopped – until the eighth. From nowhere, Chisora found a right hand – arguably the best he threw in his entire career – that toppled Takam, and then another to complete a jaw-dropping turnaround.
48 JOE LOUIS KO 4 TONY GALENTO
June 26, 1939
GALENTO was a fat New Jersey bar owner who drank beer and smoked cigars – and gave one of the greatest heavyweights in history a real scare. The human beer barrel known as “Two Ton Tony” shook up Louis in the opener before being dropped himself in the second.
