By: Sean Crose
There’s certainly been some impressive knockouts in 2022. Then again, one of the nice things about professional boxing is that each year brings any number of reel endings. what standout. No matter how bad things get in boxing – and, let’s face it, things aren’t great right now – there are at least some beautiful knockouts. And besides, this year’s candidates are very difficult to choose the winner. Caleb Plant’s Anthony Dirrell finish is etched in the collective memory, as is Deontay Wilder’s hammering of Robert Helenius, as well as Tyson Fury’s sudden hit of Dillian Whyte.
However, while impressive, no knockout has had the same impact as Leigh Wood’s Michael Conlan knockout last winter in the UK. Not only did Wood knock Conlan down, but he also terrifyingly knocked the man over the rope. “If we find out he’s okay,” my brother-in-law texted me about Conlan shortly after the battle, “(then) it was a great fight.” Yes. Conlan beat Wood from the start, then continued to excel. However, Wood was not turned down. After taking down Conlan in game eleven, he terrifyingly finished off his in-game opponent in game twelfth.
“Finally,” I wrote at the time, “Conlan was finally literally knocked off the ring by Leigh before lying unconscious on the floor of the eponymous arena in Nottingham. Everyone, including Leigh, was extremely worried about the brutal end of the war. Conlan left the arena on a stretcher, and it took some time before word got out that the former Olympic athlete was alert and responsive.” Fortunately for all involved, especially for Conlan and his family, the Irish boxer proved to be no worse off wearing. After all, he won two in a row.
Still, there’s still the duality of knockout punches that comes to mind. As I wrote at the time, they can be horrible things. However, at the same time they are also extremely impressive, showing the complete dominance of one athlete over another. And, in the end, that’s what makes boxing – and every other sport – remarkable, the fact that it’s the sport’s quest for dominance. If sweet science had merely sent someone falling through a set of ropes to a hard floor, we would be horrified. However, it is not the serious possible harm we admire in such times, but the display of athletic prowess.
And Leigh’s power was at its peak when he stopped Conlan that night in England.
