50 MICHAEL BENTT vs TOMMY MORRISON
October 29, 1993
MORRISON decided beating up Michael Bentt would be a good way to sharpen his tools before fighting Lennox Lewis for his heavyweight belts. The opening minute went as planned, with Bentt being dazed and driven to the ropes. The moment Morrison stopped punching, however, Bentt hit him back with a right to the chin and the fight changed. Morrison was stunned and Bentt went on to drop him three times and stop him in 93 seconds.
49 MIKE TYSON vs REGGIE GROSS
June 13, 1986
GROSS threw the kitchen sink at Tyson in the opening round. He landed a punch and then opened up, aiming 20 punches at Tyson, landing a couple, but missing most as Tyson twisted his upper body one way then the other. Gross paused for a split second before throwing his next one and Tyson pounced. He needed only one punch, a left hook. Gross landed on his back, got up and was dropped again before it was waved off.
48 CHARLEY MITCHELL vs JOHN L SULLIVAN
May 14, 1883
AS Sullivan remembered in his autobiography, Mitchell was sent from England “to knock out the Boston giant”.
Mitchell did the unthinkable in the first and put Sullivan on the canvas with what was described as “a short right hand to the face.” Sullivan would always insist he had been caught off-balance and said he “got up immediately and went at him like a bull at a red rag”. Officials jumped into the ring to pull Sullivan off Mitchell in the third.
47 TYSON FURY vs DILLIAN WHYTE
April 23, 2022
THERE were 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium and Fury gave them the exclamation mark finish they wanted by detonating a right uppercut on Whyte’s chin in the sixth. Whyte got up on shaky legs and referee Mark Lyson agreed with Fury that the fight had to be stopped.
46 SUGAR RAY LEONARD vs MARVIN HAGLER
April 6, 1987
SEVEN years earlier, Leonard had wound up a bolo punch against Roberto Duran in their rematch and not thrown it. Against Hagler, he let it go in the fourth round. The right uppercut appeared to land a shade low, but there were no complaints from Hagler. He was more vocal at the end, after two of the judges scored for Leonard.
