By David P. Greisman

Madison Square Garden, New York City - Andy Lee summoned a one-punch knockout victory from what seemed a likely defeat, knocking John Jackson out cold with a right hand he’d so desperately needed.

That’s because Jackson, the son of the vaunted puncher and former 154- and 160-pound titleholder Julian Jackson, had shown his own power in the first round. Lee, a southpaw, had thrown a looping left hand. Jackson ducked it and came up with a big right hand that put Lee down on the canvas hard.

Lee rose. Jackson turned southpaw to try to land the right hand again. Lee began to move more in the second, but he wasn’t doing enough to keep Jackson away. Jackson kept summoning up the right again, hoping to repeat his earlier success. Lee kept moving to his left — toward Jackson’s right hand.

In the fifth round, Jackson landed several shots, and Lee began to shuffle along the ropes to try to get away. Lee’s feet tangled up, and he stumbled. Jackson, believing Lee was badly hurt, came forward to try to throw another right hand. Lee countered with a right hand that was part uppercut, part hook and completely devastating. 

Jackson went down face first, unconscious.

The end came 1 minute and 7 seconds into the round.

This was the first fight at junior middleweight for Lee, who had challenged for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s world title in June 2012, suffering a stoppage. He’s now won five in a row since. The 29-year-old from Limerick, Ireland, is now 33-2 with 23 KOs.

Jackson, 25, from Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, fell quite literally to 18-2 with 15 KOs. His other defeat came in September 2012 in a decision loss to Willie Nelson.