We are approximately halfway through the year, with many great fights, and numerous stunning knockouts possibly still to come. But for Top Rank’s Carl Moretti, we all saw the KO of the Year this week, this when WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman vaporised a game but not too hard to hit Jin Sasaki in Tokyo.
Norman, who promised a showcase, delivered courtesy of a highlight reel KO any fighter would be proud to have on their CV. Norman, after twice dropping Sasaki in the opening round, closed the show in quite brutal fashion in round-five, this when he knocked Sasaki out cold with a peach of a left hook to the head. It was the kind of knockout the more bloodthirsty of us hope to see, while for others, the KO proved disturbing.
Norman’s Hook: A Masterclass in Brutal Precisio
Moretti, speaking with The Ring, says we will not see a more stunning KO this year.
“No one’s beating that knockout, that is the knockout of the year,” Moretti stated. “And will make every highlight reel and people will keep playing it and that’s what people want to see. We were a long way from Times Square.”
Moretti, who may well be proven right as far as his prediction goes, was of course having a dig at the almost complete lack of action, let alone knockouts, we fans were forced to sit through when stars Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney failed to deliver when they fought on the Times Square show back on May 2.
So, where does Norman’s icing of Sasaki rank among the all-time great knockouts? Does it in fact deserve a spot on such a lofty list? This wasn’t Sugar Ray Robinson wiping out the granite-chinned Gene Fulmer, nor was it Rocky Marciano taking down the great Jersey Joe Walcott. Still, for some, Moretti included, Norman’s KO ranks as very special.
There could be a more impressive KO to come this year: imagine, for an instant, Terence Crawford shocking the world by knocking out Canelo Alvarez! Now, that would top anything else we’ve see this year, Norman KO5 Sasaki included. But being realistic about things, yeah, Moretti is most probably as bang on here as Norman’s left hook was bang on target in Tokyo.
Fight fans, as much as they appreciate and admire the Sweet Science of boxing, really do come alive most when they see a nasty, savage knockout.
