Best first round kos in world title history

Beat me to it, Fred!!! Nicely done!

 

Nontitle

 

Brewster vs Golota
Liston vs Patterson I and II
Larry Holmes vs M. Frazier

But my vote would definitely go to Nunn - Kalambay

 

Norris-Mugabi
Prudencio Cardona- Antonio Avelar

 

That was a great ko. When you see Ruiz years later going the distance with top guys, it shows how dangerous Tua could be.

 

Is Sonny the only one who was involved in three first-round KO title fights?

 

Tyson was involved in a few as well. His destruction of Carl Williams is arguably his finest performance.

 

McClarnin vs Young Corbett III
Ebihara vs Kingpetch
Singer vs Mandell
Perez vs Dower
Carruthers vs Toweel
Cardona vs Avelar

 

McClarnin vs YCIII is the greatest KO1 in world title history, imo.

Of those I can't see mentioned yet in this thread, the first champion to ever lose his title by KO1 (I think), Pedlar Palmer vs Terry McGovern, deserves a shout as a great KO1 win in a world title fight.

 

Nunn V Kalambay as everyone would’ve bet there house on it going twelve. Possibly the most unexpected one punch KO in the middleweight divisions history.

 

Which is far and away the most significant ..

 

Agreed, the left hook was an absolute peach.

Until then, Mike looked his usual self but Carl was doing alright for himself also.

Could Carl have continued?

Maybe, but it appeared he wasn’t interested to.

He didn’t comply with the ref’s post KD, instructive checks - but immediately upon wave off, “The Truth” came alive and protested - but was he lying?

Let the fans be their own judge - methinks he was.

Mind you, in their well considered defence of Mike, some pundits place the Williams fight outside of Mike’s prime best - because it doesn’t fit in the bigger picture/claim that Mike was never the same after Rooney was gone - and with the fight against Douglas being a little less than 7 months away.

 

Burns vs Squires, 4 July 1907.

I’ve nominated this one for the discussion because it is worthy of some consideration on several fronts.

Blowouts like this were much less common in the protracted fight era.

For its time, the vision is as clear as it could be - a perfect day blessed the film makers.

We have an historically significant ex Champ as ref. - The Boiler Maker, Jim Jeffries who dwarves the contestants.

Then we have clear vision and a perfect exemplification of Tiny Tommy Burn’s money punch - the right hand -

- exemplified over and over again on the not so sturdy chin of hapless Boshter Bill Squires. For a handle on good old Bill Squires in later years, see pic below.

And finally, purely in its own right, it was an exciting fight and a throughly dominating performance from Burns.

Back then, especially, the fans likely expected a much longer haul and perhaps weren’t so happy with the quick finish.

This content is protected

 

Agree with you. I thought he looked amazing that fight. Was it better than what everyone considers MTs pinnacle in his single round blowout of Spinks? I think it was. I also fondly remember Larry Merchant saying something like Williams has a tendency to get hit by left hooks which is not ideal against Tyson.

 

Joe Louis scored five first round KOs in title fights, including three in a row.