By Dan Morley
THE crowning of a new heavyweight champion has long enticed the interest of boxing fans worldwide. A shift in boxing’s glamour division offers heavyweight contenders the crown jewel in sports: the world heavyweight title.
The nature of uncertainty is always present when the sport’s Goliaths collide. The ever-changing structure of heavyweight supremacy in the last few years is a prime example of this.
Anything can happen in heavyweight boxing. When two big men collide, both the fight and landscape of the division can change in an instant, which generates further intrigue regarding Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois’ battle for the recently relinquished IBF belt.
Joshua will look to enter elite company, joining a group of fighters spearheaded by heavyweight history’s greatest combatant, Muhammad Ali, in becoming a three-time world champion.
Yet, an in-form Daniel Dubois will look to upset the odds and use his strength, power, and newfound fortitude to win his first heavyweight title.
Joshua poses a challenge many feel Dubois will struggle to overcome. Yet Joshua himself has been upset by an unfavored challenger, longing for his crowning moment, in Andy Ruiz.
Although the winner of this fight’s claim as the king of the division is overshadowed by Oleksandr Usyk’s indisputable supremacy, throughout history, the victory of a fighter’s first-ever heavyweight proper world title has provided some of the sport’s most shocking moments.
Joshua lost two fights back-to-back against Oleksandr Usyk. (Getty Images)
The emphatic, violent fashion in which certain fighters have snatched their first title has sent shockwaves around the world and changed the path of the sport forever.
Even though he has previously reigned as a WBA and later an IBF Interim king, if Dubois is going to pull off his biggest world-level success to date, he will look to channel history’s most devastating champions, who snatched the crown in ruthless fashion.
Here are the most emphatic, devastating, first world title wins in history:
4) Sonny Liston KOs Floyd Patterson in one round
Liston’s massacre of history’s first two-time heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson, was executed with the brutality, coldness, and efficiency of an assassin. Having cleared out every fighter on an impressive list of top 10 contenders, a feat no fighter has carried out before or after, Liston finally got his shot at Patterson.
Wasting no time, before the first stanza came to its close, Liston obliterated Floyd, in a gruesome scene reminiscent to a bear mauling its prey. A mangled, outgunned Patterson found himself trapped against the ropes, overpowered the the ominous presence of the heavyweight division’s new terror.
As Floyd lay defenceless against the ropes, Sonny pulverised him with left hooks, smashing the champion to the canvas. The manner in which Liston dispatched of Patterson, who had been heavyweight champion across each of the prior six years, was terrifying.
Amazingly, he replicated the beating in the immediate rematch. Two consecutive first-round KOs of the heavyweight champion, off the back of dismantling the entire top 10 contenders list, cemented Liston’s reputation as boxing’s most feared fighter.
His short-lived reign has overshadowed the way he snatched heavyweight honours. Yet, after dismantling everyone in his path, it’s no wonder Muhammad Ali entered the Liston fight as an underdog.
7/22/1963, Las Vegas, NV: Floyd Patterson is knocked down during his heavyweight title fight against Sonny Liston
3) Mike Tyson KOs Trevor Berbick in Round Two
Iron Mike Tyson’s late ‘80s run encapsulated audiences like no other fighter in history. A fearsome presence and freakish fighting machine, fans were drawn to their screens, eagerly anticipating a live execution every time he entered the ring.
Tyson’s combination of explosive power, speed and ferocity was backed up with extreme discipline, instilled by one of boxing’s greatest-ever teachers, Cus D’Amato.
Opponents were aware of Tyson’s physical capabilities, but it was the malicious intent with which he entered the ring that made things far more daunting. Mike had embodied the mindset of history’s greatest-ever conquerors, and he studied so diligently, looking to conquer and obliterate all before him.
Iron Mike’s mindset and a trail of brutal KOs had beaten most before the first bell had even rung. With a perfect 27-fight record, 15 of which had ended in first-round KOs, Trevor Berbick stood in the way of heavyweight history.
Tyson demolished Trevor Berbick in just two rounds, becoming the sport’s youngest heavyweight champion ever. Huge haymakers sent the champion flying across the ring. The overmatched Berbick was severely hurt in the second.
Upon rising, the prolonged effects of the shots sent him straight back down. The mind was willing, but the body could take no more and in just one round and a half, there was a new heavyweight world champion. The spark of history’s most exciting title reign had exploded!
2) George Foreman KOs Joe Frazier in Round Two
Joe Frazier impressively reigned as heavyweight champion throughout the early years of the 1970s, providing one of the division’s greatest performances ever by defeating Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century.
He had proved himself a relentless, immovable object, capable of slugging with the strongest and outgunning the slickest—yet against ‘Big George,’ he collided with an unstoppable force.
Foreman bulldozed Frazier in a manner no one ever matched. Howard Cosell’s legendary reaction upon the first knockdown perfectly captured the shockwaves that reverberated around the globe as the legendary commentator yelled, “Down goes Frazier, Down goes Frazier, Down Goes Frazier!”
Yet this was just the beginning of a demolition job. In around two gruesome rounds, Foreman rag-dolled one of the division’s most renowned and skilled tough men, flooring Smokin’ Joe six times. The way these knockdowns occurred added to the unbelievable nature of it, lifting him off his feet multiple times.
Whilst the body was battered, Frazier’s heart brought him back up to his feet each time, yet in a merciful act to prevent any further damage, the fight was stopped.
Foreman continued his explosive streak by catapulting Ken Norton across the ring within two rounds, setting up heavyweight boxing’s biggest fight – the Rumble in the Jungle. Once more, Ali would enter the ring as a big underdog.
Boxing: WBC/ WBA World Heavyweight Title: George Foreman in action vs Joe Frazier at National Stadium. Kingston, Jamaica 1/22/1973 CREDIT: Herb Scharfman (Photo by Herb Scharfman /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X17418 )
1) Jack Dempsey KOs Jess Willard in Round Three
A menacing, ferocious, and exciting victory, it single-handedly dragged boxing into position as America’s number one sport. With attendances and interest in the sport low prior to the Dempsey-Willard fight, a slow, ponderous heavyweight champion took on the formerly homeless Jack Dempsey.
The ‘Manassa Mauler’, was so much smaller than Willard, that many feared for his life. Yet Jack flipped the script and shot out of the blocks, dishing out a horrendous beating in the first.
Across the first three-minute stanza, he dropped Willard seven times. As the fallen champion slowly climbed to his feet, Dempsey stood over him before relentlessly pounding him back to the floor. Dempsey’s explosive fury broke Willard’s ribs and orbital bone and knocked out multiple teeth.
The crowning of a new champion who would fight with such animalistic fury intrigued so many people in the sport. Dempsey’s following fights were the catalyst for live broadcasts, 100,000+ crowd attendances, and the first-ever million-dollar gates. This fight is the most impactful in history and was a trailblazer to light up the roaring ‘20s.
