With the remarkable eight knockdown thriller between Jose Zepeda and Ivan Baranchyk still fresh in our minds, IBHOF inductee Graham Houston looks back at past bouts where multiple trips to the canvas captured the imagination.
The sensational fight between Jose Zepeda and Ivan Baranchyk, with each man floored four times (and the referee seemed to miss what looked like another knockdown, ruling a slip when Baranchyk touched down in round two) got me thinking about other multi-knockdown bouts.
I’m not thinking so much of fights where one man did all the knocking down, such as Jimmy Carter dropping Tommy Collins 10 times in four rounds, or Ingemar Johansson flooring Floyd Patterson seven times in the third round, but fights in which each boxer suffered a knockdown.
I suppose the most celebrated up-and-downer came when George Foreman, in between reigns as heavyweight champion, knocked out Ron Lyle in the fifth round at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, on January 24, 1976.
Foreman was down twice, Lyle once, in a wild fourth round, but Big George looked out on his feet when the bell saved him. Foreman prevailed, though, surviving an early battering in the fifth before clubbing a seemingly exhausted Lyle to the canvas. When Lyle went down face first it was clear he wouldn’t be beating the count.
“A knockout in the fifth round by George Foreman when it seemed Ron Lyle had command of this ever-changing bout, the ebb and flow of the action almost unbelievable,” Howard Cosell commented in the ABC TV Wide World of Sports Saturday afternoon broadcast.
Cosell wasn’t exaggerating either. Four knockdowns, each boxer down twice, with Foreman getting the knockout with the fourth and final knockdown. As broadcaster Cosell exclaimed: “What an incredible fight!”
There was another four-knockdown heavyweight thriller, also with a fifth-round ending, when Michael Moorer, who had won 28 consecutive bouts with 26 KOs, knocked out Smokin’ Bert Cooper (24 KOs in a 27-8 record) to win the vacant WBO title in Atlantic City on May 15, 1992. As with the Foreman vs Lyle battle, Moorer and Cooper were both down twice.
The first round was sensational and set the tone. Down from a series of punches and looking “gone” in the first minute, Moorer managed to gather himself, helped by Cooper straying from the neutral corner during the eight count. Referee Joe O’Neill stopped counting while he directed Cooper to get back in the neutral corner.
Those precious seconds could have made a world of difference. Although Cooper backed up Moorer on the ropes he was leaving himself open and Moorer exploded with big right hooks from his southpaw stance, flooring Smokin’ Bert and sending his gum shield flying. Now Cooper looked finished but got a breather when the referee belatedly called to Cooper’s corner for the mouthpiece and replaced it.
Each man down in the first three minutes — and more fireworks to come with a two-fisted barrage crumpling Moorer to his hands and knees in the third round. For the second time in the fight, it looked all over for Moorer. But, again, Moorer managed to survive after taking the eight count. And again, Moorer fought his way back, blasting Cooper to the canvas with a series of punches finished off by a right uppercut from his southpaw posture followed by a left hand in the fifth round.
Cooper, blood streaming from a cut over his right eye, hauled himself up but referee O’Neill took a good look at him after completing the eight count and waved the finish. “Michael Moorer showed a lot of heart tonight,” future heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe commented on the PPV broadcast.
Britain had its own version of an up-an-down heavyweight thriller when Swadlincote southpaw Jack Bodell stopped Billy Walker in the eighth of a scheduled 12-rounder at the Empire Pool (as it was then known), Wembley, on March 25, 1969.
Walker, always game and willing but terribly easy to hit, was down in each of the first two rounds and again in the eighth. But the West Ham “Golden Boy” had Bodell down in the fifth. Referee Harry Gibbs called a halt in the eighth round, with a worn-down Walker taking punches without reply.
When Walker was dropped in the first and second rounds they were heavy knockdowns and the gutsy Londoner, who got up at the count of eight each time, did well to survive and come back with a knockdown of his own.
This fight took place before the mandatory eight count became part of the British Boxing Board of Control rules, and one could argue that Walker was actually dropped a fourth time, because, early in the second round, Walker went down on one knee after Bodell popped in a right jab from his southpaw stance. But, looking at the video, it seemed to me that Walker lost his balance after missing with a left hook. He was up in an instant and referee Gibbs waved the boxers to continue — no making the “no knockdown” signal, and no wiping off gloves, in those days.
Walker retired after losing to Bodell but as ever he gave all he had, and just for a moment he seemed on the verge of turning the fight in his favour. “The standard of skill was often desperately low, especially from Walker, but the stamina and the courage shown by both men deserves the highest praise,” Neil Allen reported in The Times.
Then, of course, there was the spectacular featherweight title fight between Prince Naseem Hamed and Kevin Kelley at Madison Square Garden on December 19, 1997, Hamed knocking out his New York opponent in the fourth round of an all-southpaw war that saw each man down three times.
Hamed’s superior punching power finally took its toll but the Sheffield superstar had a worryingly vulnerable look and while his US debut was undeniably drama-filled he got mixed reviews in the British and American press. Nick Pitt, reporting for the Sunday Times, praised Hamed’s fighting heart while expressing reservations: “But he also boxed so poorly, and recklessly, that those who doubt his claims for ultimate greatness were given volumes of evidence to support their scepticism.”
When talking about multiple-knockdowns, swings-of-fortune bouts one must mention the welterweight title sizzler between Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto at Foxwoods casino resort in Connecticut on April 16, 2011. Ortiz won a unanimous decision but he had to survive two knockdowns while dropping Berto twice. “Vicious” Victor didn’t always show a tremendous degree of tenacity but this fight was his finest hour. On this night, as the saying goes, he refused to lose.
For me, though, the greatest of the up-and-down fights came when Archie Moore retained his light-heavyweight title by knocking out Yvon Durelle in the 11th round at the Montreal Forum in a Wednesday night fight on December 10, 1958.
The rugged, slugging French-Canadian Durelle knocked down Moore twice officially in the first round (referee Jack Sharkey, the former heavyweight champion, perhaps incorrectly ruled a third trip to the canvas in the opening round came from a push and not a punch).
Durelle knocked down Moore again in the fifth. But Ancient Archie called on all his ring generalship and fighting instincts to turn the tide. By the sixth Durelle’s nose was bloodied. Moore dropped Durelle in the seventh and again in the 10th, when a fusillade of punches finished off by a left hook sent a weary Durelle sinking to his hands and knees. Durelle was on one knee when referee Sharkey counted to eight but the bell rang, and in those days the count did not continue after the bell. The challenger got up and made his way to his corner but, battered and bloody, he had nothing left.
Moore closed the show with two knockdowns after 49 seconds of the 11th round. So, seven knockdowns in all, Moore down three times (not counting the push/slip in the first round), Durelle down four times including the count-out, and Moore rallying from the brink of disaster.
“It was one of the greatest light-heavyweight fights ever staged, and Moore — though he’ll be 42 or 45 years old Saturday — survived terrible punishment and dished it out in a fashion that few youngsters could have paralleled,” Jack Cuddy reported for United Press International.
Some historians might say: “What about Jack Dempsey vs Luis Angel Firpo?” And, yes, that heavyweight title fight at the Polo Grounds, New York on September 14, 1923 was a hectic affair, with a total of 11 knockdowns, Firpo down nine times, Dempsey suffering a flash knockdown and also, famously, getting knocked through the ropes. But it was simply an all-out slugging match. Moore exhibited science and a cool boxing brain against Durelle and also astonishing endurance considering his advanced years. That’s why, in all the “He’s down, he’s up!” fights in ring history, Moore vs Durelle is No. 1 on my list.
Main image: Zepeda downs Baranchyk. Photo: Mikey Williams.