The weirdest things that have taken place in the ring

By Janne Romppainen

23.05 - Boxing is a simple sport they say. There are just two men squaring it off, the one who does not lose his consciousness is the winner. The basic rule really is that simple. More than once, however, we have seen fights or events in some fights that have left us scratching our heads. There have been controversial decision, weird knockouts, fiascos or other just plain unbelievable things that you would never expect to see when you are watching some fight action.

Here is a top-10 list from the top of my head about such events. The list includes all kinds of controversies over the years that we have witnessed in major bouts.

10. Mills Lane TKOs Bernard Hopkins, 28th August 1998

Can there be anything more embarrassing for a great fighter and a future hall-of-famer such as The Executioner than to get stopped by a small, sixty-year-old baldhead? Hopkins was facing his challenger Robert Allen in a fight for the IBF middleweight title. The fight was fairly even after three rounds. In the fourth round the fighters clinched in the ropes and Lane went to separate them. He grabbed Allen’s arm and at the same time pushed Hopkins back. As a result, Hopkins tripped and fell through the ropes outside of the ring. He hurt his ankle when falling and could not continue. The bout was ruled as a NC and Hopkins went on to defeat Allen convincingly in the rematch, but Lane’s TKO over a great middleweight must be an unattainable achievement for future referees.

9 .The Grandpa Empire strikes back! 5th November 1994

Most of these weird happening in the ring have left us puzzled, even angry. But this event, most unlikely though it was, left most onlookers nothing but happy and in the progress totally stunned. Michael Moorer was the new undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. He was facing George Foreman, a 45-year-old grandfather who got his chance to the title more because of his popularity than because of his chances that looked very slim. And for the first nine rounds, Foreman was hopelessly outboxed by the skilful champ. In the tenth however, he found a place for his slow but hugely powerful right hand that connected cleanly on Moorer’s chin. Moorer fell like he had been hit by a baseball bat and was not close to get up before the count. Foreman’s reign became short and no too glorified, but this victory was something.

8. Can you stand up for two more seconds? 17th of March 1990

The first big fight of the nineties was maybe the best of the whole decade and among the oddest of the whole history of the sport. The undefeated Olympic gold medallist Meldrick Taylor faced the undefeated ring legend from Mexico, Julio Cesar Chavez in a fight for the IBF and WBC light welterweight titles. Taylor swept through the early rounds with his superb hand-speed. Chavez kept coming, punishing Taylor hard to the body. Coming to the final round, Taylor was clearly in fron in two of the scorecards and Chavez needed a knockout to win the fight. The Mexican went desperately after his exhausted foe and loaded up with his every punch. Taylor stood there and fired right back. Late in the round, Chavez hurt Taylor with his punch. Taylor stumbled forwards and Chavez put him down with a right hand. Taylor picked himself up at the count of five and looked to his corner for instructions. Meanwhile, the referee Richard Steele completed his manadory eight count, looked Taylor hard to the eyes and asked if he was okay. Taylor did not respond. Steele asked it again and when Taylor was still not able no respond, the referee waved it of when there was just two seconds left on the clock. There was a riot in the ring made by Taylor’s trainer Lou Duva, but the referee’s decision, unusual though it was, was done along the rules and the result of the fight remained.

7. Fighting looks like fun, let’s do it some more! 11th July 1996

The great hall of Madison Square Garden had seen many kinds of things but luckily not this kind of a fight both inside and also and especially outside the ring. Riddick Bowe and Andrew Golota had just put up a fight that stands among the ugliest ever. Golota had controlled the fight, but he had also punched Bowe low several times. In the seventh round the referee had seen enough and disqualified Golota to end the battle. Unfortunately, he had just started it. The enraged people og Bowe’s camp rushed to the ring and attacked Golota’s team. There was a misunderstanding among the crowd that the referee had stopped the fight in favour of Golota as a TKO. Suddenly the whole hall was fighting. The chairs flew in the air and tens of people got hurt. This was a night of fighting in the N.Y too literally.

6. The Phantom Punch, 25th May 1965

From all the questionable knockouts we have seen through the years this surely is the most talked about. There are still many people who are sure that the fix was in at the night in Lewinston, Maine where Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston fought their rematch. In the earlier year, Ali had stunned the boxing world by dancing like a butterfly, stinging like a bee and stopping the fearful Liston after six rounds. This time the fight had barely started when it was already over. Ali punched Liston with a seemingly harmless right while backing away from his opponent. The punch was so fast that most ringsiders nor the TV-viewers even picked it with their bare eyes. Liston went down from the punch and rolled on his back. He tried to raise and fell down again as the referee Jersey Joe Walcott was trying to move Ali to a neutral corner while the champion kept yelling at Liston. Finally the challenger got up and the fight continued for a moment until the ringsiders pointed out to Walcott that Liston had been down for more than ten seconds. Walcott took some time to consider it and finally he ruled Ali the winner at 1,58 of the first round. Liston was known as a granite-chin and Ali was not a murderous puncher so obviously the fix-theories have gotten some fuel. Then again Ali’s punch was perfectly timed and it caught Liston, who hadn’t trained for the fight all that well, blind. Nobody is still quite sure whether Liston was afraid of thugs, gamblers or just Ali himself but anyway the Phantom Punch stays in the history for long.

5. No Mas! 25th November 1980

Probably the two most quoted and famous word ever said in the ring were uttered by Manos de Piedra, Roberto Duran in his title fight against Sugar Ray Leonard. Earlier in the same year Duran had become the first man to defeat Leonard, the new superstar of boxing, after a brilliant fifteen-round WBC welterweight title fight. Now they met again in a highly-anticipated rematch. Their first fight had been a total war which suited Duran perfectly. This time Leonard used different strategy, he relied on his good movement and hand-speed to stay off Duran. The fight was pretty close in the early rounds but Leonard was clearly frustrating his foe. In the eighth round Duran suddenly turned away and mumbled No Mas – No More for the referee who had no option but to stop the fight and award Leonard a TKO victory. Leonard was outboxing Duran, but the Panamanian was never in real trouble and quitting was something nobody would have ever expected from the almost animal-like ring legend. Later there were rumours about Duran having stomach cramps which forced him to quit, but there has been no real evidence to support them.

4. The Most famous fourth man in the ring, 6th November 1993

The reigning champion, Riddick Bowe was defending his WBA and IBF heavyweight titles against the man who he had beaten to become a champ, Evander Holyfield. Holyfield came out strong, taking the fight to the champion who appeared tired after five rounds where the challenger had clearly taken the command. In the next two rounds Bowe rallied a bit and stayed in the fight. So far it was a good and intriguing heavyweight championship fight. In the seventh round it started to happen. The fighters were battling it out, when suddenly a parachutist landed to the ring. He was nothing but a lunatic who wanted to draw attention to him, but the referee Mills Lane rightfully ordered a timeout. The fight was stopped for twenty-one minutes to get the unwanted guest out of the ring. Holyfield went on to win the fight and his title back, but surely the most memorable event of the fight was performed by an outsider. The Fan Man, as he was named afterwards, who died recently went on to “enlighten” also the inhabitants of the Buckingham Palace later.

3. To make a big man cry… 7th February 1997

We have heard about fighters breaking down in the ring as in accumulation of the punishment they have been taking. Far more weird it is when a fighter suffers a mental breakdown in the ring. Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall were fighting for the vacant WBC heavyweight title belt. Three years earlier McCall had upset Lewis by knocking him out in the second round. This time Lewis was the favourite. He took the fight under his control early, but McCall was always in the fight, for two rounds that is. The weird events started in the third round, when McCall started walking away from his opponent and dropping his hands. He spent the break between rounds by wandering around the ring. The same continued in the next round. Lewis was fighting carefully, but McCall wasn’t interested to fight at all anymore. He started to cry and continued to drop his hands. In the break of the next round, the referee Mills Lane asked whether or not he wanted to continue. McCall responded the affirmative, but he did nothing to back his words. Lewis came out quickly in the fifth round against a man who simply refused to defend himself anymore, leaving Lane no option but to call the fight off and award Lewis a fifth-round TKO victory.

2. With a little help of friends, 4th July 1912

The two great fighters, Ad Wolgast and Mexican Joe Rivers who put up this most unusual fight have been forgotten by many boxing people, but the fight between them probably never will. Wolgast was the reigning lighweight champion of the time and Rivers challenged him for the title. The fight went to the thirteenth round, where the fighters threw simultaneous punches. Rivers landed straight on Wolgast’s chin, while the champion fired a clear low blow. The result was like the ending scheme from the Rocky II movie where the referee, in this fight Jackie Welsh, started to count on both of the fighters. However, when he reached the count of four, he duck down and literally picked Wolgast up from the canvas and held him up, while with his other hand he continued to count Rivers out! The round ended as the count was still going (at those days the bell saved the fighter in any round) but Welsh nevertheless completed the count, shouted to the officials that Wolgast won by knockout and then stormed out of the ring. There are still discussion whether or not Welsh was bribed that night. His actions definitely support the opinion that he was, but it also might have been a case of him losing his head. Welsh was known as an honest man, and it might be he just didn’t see the low blow and thusly he gave the advantage of the situation for the champion. Whatever the truth is here, this fight has a cemented place among the most peculiar of the history.

1. Ear-biting madness, 28th June 1997

We all know the story here, much because it was one of the biggest fights in the heavyweight history and because it certainly was the biggest scandal ever witnessed in the ring. The ex-champ Evander Holyfield had upset huge odds to defeat Iron Mike Tyson half a year earlier to become the champion for the third time and now they had their eagerly anticipated rematch. Holyfield had controlled the action for two rounds. Coming to the third round, Tyson tried to come out without his mouthpiece. Holyfield signalled it to the referee and the gum shield was installed back. Tyson started the fight well, scoring with good shots. After the first half of the round, Tyson opened his mouth and let his shield drop away. In a clinch, he leaned on Holyfield and literally bit off a piece out of Holyfield’s left ear and spit it calmly on the canvas. Holyfield jumped up in pain and Tyson pushed him from his back. Referee Lane, once again included in a weirdo, separated the fighters and took two points away from Tyson, but let the fight continue. The round was coming to the end, when Tyson bit Holyfield again from his other ear. Again, Holyfield jumped and held his ear in pain. Lane considered the situation for a moment and then declared Holyfield the winner and still champion via third-round disqualification. Tyson explained later that he just took the law to his own hands (not to mention his teeth) because Holyfield had butted him. Few understood him.

Here is my listing. Feel free to add your own nominees to it or comment otherwise here or to my e-mail at janneromppainen@hotmail.com