Read this excellent ESPN article, The 10 best knockouts via a body blow
When we think of great one-punch knockouts, what invariably comes to mind are blows delivered to the chin. There was Rocky Marciano's big right hand crumpling Jersey Joe Walcott; Sugar Ray Robinson's left hook blowing away the supposedly blast-proof Gene Fullmer; Bob Foster's left hook laying out Dick Tiger.
Ricky Hatton, right, has a knack for landing the picture-perfect left hook to the liver.
A one-punch finish with a body punch is much more unusual, but every so often it happens, and it's happened three times this year.
Jose Luis Castillo's collapse against Ricky Hatton was followed by Jhonny Gonzalez and Tomas Rojas dropping dramatically against Gerry Penalosa and Jorge Arce respectively.
These endings were startling in their suddenness, surprising because as a rule body punches are seen as a means of one fighter wearing down the other, slowly eroding his resistance.
When a fighter loses as a result of one punch to the body there can be a suspicion of surrender. After Hatton's win over Castillo there were those who thought that the veteran Mexican boxer took an opportunity to bail out.
At the postfight news conference, Castillo's longtime promoter, Bob Arum, wearily explained to the uninitiated: "Once you get hit that way, and it's a perfect shot like the one Ricky hit him with tonight, the guy can't breathe for 30 seconds. There's nothing he can do, no matter how he wants to get up -- he cannot breathe."
The one-punch finish resulting from a body punch is a rarity. To get three in one year is highly unusual.
Here is a personal top 10 of such finishes -- endings that were literally breathtaking.
Go to ESPN's article for the top 10 now!
See also:
Why I love body shots!
The Frazier Left Hook Unleashed
Watch this body shot!
2 comments:
When I was a kid I fell down a tree once and a branch hit me in the lower ribs. The fall itself wasn't too painful, but I couldn't breathe at all because of it. In another incident I fell from our attick and banged my side again on the way down, this time on the side of an open door below. Same thing again -- couldn't breathe for what felt like the longest time.
It has to do with the breath I think. When you get hit while inhaling, that's when you're most vulnerable. Getting sucker punched in the gut while you inhaling or while your abdomen is otherwise relaxed has the same effect. I'm guessing the body-punch knockouts come from the same thing -- getting hit while inhaling.
Joel,
Sorry for the delay in getting back with you. I think you're right, and there are at least a couple of aspects to good body shots (these are generalizations):
1) If you hit the solar plexus (located about an inch below the sternum), it doesn't matter whether you're exhaling or now - you'll probably go down.
2) The abdominal area is definitely very vulnerable. A blow there without being prepared can kill (eg. Houdini), or stun easily. Exhale and tense the abs to take a shot.
3) The sides are extremely vulnerable - the lower ribs are easily broken, and kidney or shots can drop most anyone regardless of whether they're prepared.
Any way you look at it, you need to protect your body as much almost as much as your head. As you can probably tell, I've taken many shots to the headddd and ahao no illl efffectssss.
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