Boxing’s Buzzer-Beaters

By Lee Groves

 

Few moments in sports are more thrilling than watching a last second shot transform sure defeat into instant victory.

 

For viewers who have no dog in the fight, the emotional explosions on both sides are wonders to behold while for those who do they have the power to create memories – or nightmares – that will last a lifetime.

 

Over the decades the culmination of March Madness – the men’s NCAA college basketball tournament – has produced hundreds of memorable moments. No. 14 seed Murray State’s last-second bomb to upend No. 3 Vanderbilt in the opening round was just one of several that shattered brackets, lifted spirits and dashed hopes, depending on one’s perspective.

 

The promise of even more reality-shaking turnabouts is why the first two rounds of the tournament remain an uplifting rite of spring in the United States.

 

Boxing has had more than its share of fantastic finishes where fighters emerged from the deepest competitive holes to achieve improbable victories. With the Sweet Sixteen round in full swing, here are just seven of the Sweet Science’s best buzzer-beaters.

 

– Four months before LaMotta won the middleweight title from Marcel Cerdan in June 1949, the Frenchman known as “The Tarzan of Buzenval” scored a comprehensive 10-round decision win with a combination of neat boxing and timely punching.

 

That formula served him well again in the rematch and entering the 15th round he had built unassailable leads of 72-68, 74-66 and 71-69 on the scorecards. He surely had the legs and the defensive skills to avoid “The Raging Bull” one final time.

 

It certainly looked as if he would succeed, for LaMotta began the last round looking so tired and weak that he might not make it through the round, much less mount a title-saving comeback. His upper body hunched over with exhaustion and with arms hanging limply at his sides, LaMotta wearily bounced off the ropes several times. Both men appeared to be going through the motions but while that may have been true of Dauthuille, LaMotta was setting up a daring trap.

 

As Dauthuille moved in to attack the “vulnerable” LaMotta along the ropes, the New Yorker sprung into action by cranking a series of quick hooks and turning the Frenchman toward the strands. Realizing he had been fooled, Dauthuille tried to escape to ring center but LaMotta used his torso to keep him pinned and both hands to hammer away.

 

LaMotta’s attack escalated with each passing second and Dauthuille could do nothing to stop this bull’s rage. A savage hook left Dauthuille’s body draped over the bottom rope and the badly dazed challenger did his best to regain his feet. He did so, but only a split second after referee Lou Handler completed his count.

 

It is ironic that LaMotta, a man of superstitions, ended up retaining his world title with 13 seconds left.

 

This was the first defense of Andries’ second reign at 175 while this was Harding’s first exposure on American TV – and what a debut it was. The bout proved to be one of the year’s best and the ending remains one of the most dramatic in the division’s rich history.

 

The 35-year-old champ sought to expose the huge gulf in world-class experience with an unusually fast start. The attack paid immediate dividends as he opened a cut over Harding’s right eye late in the first, raised a swelling over the eye in the second and drew blood from the nose in the third. A forearm shove sent Harding to the canvas, but the Australian did not argue when referee Joe Cortez issued the first mandatory eight count of Harding’s pro career.

 

Though Andries dictated the pace and got the better of the action, Harding took everything the champion dished out and responded with punishment of his own. The 24-year-old Aussie showed his toughness and durability throughout by executing unglamorous, grinding but highly effective infighting that made the contest a fast-paced war of attrition.

 

The effects of Harding’s handiwork began to show midway through the eighth as Andries showed subtle signs of wilting. The two continued to exchange bombs in the ninth and 10th but it was clear that the tide was turning. After Andries landed a big right in the 11th, Harding drove the champ back to the ropes with a 16-punch flurry that had Andries holding on. Four heavy body shots and a follow-up right propelled a wobbly Andries straight into “the wall,” and for the first time Andries was in danger of being knocked out.

 

Entering the final round Andries was ahead by one, two and three points but none of that mattered as a bloody but charged-up Harding dumped the stiff-legged Andries to the canvas with a flurry. Andries pulled himself up but another burst from Harding, who was now bleeding heavily from a new cut over the right eye, floored Andries a second time. The courageous Andries again got to his feet but a final salvo of blows convinced referee Cortez to jump in and declare Harding the new champion 97 seconds before the final bell.

 

This dramatic come-from-behind ending sparked one of the sport’s most thrilling and underrated trilogies. Each fight was for a title, and each bout produced a title change – on the road, no less. Andries regained the belt via seventh round KO before Harding’s fans in Melbourne while Harding turned the tables by winning the rubber match by majority decision before Andries’ fans in London.

 

Few buzzer-beaters have had the historic implications of this unification fight between WBC champ Chavez and IBF king Taylor. Each was ensconced in the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings and because Mike Tyson had been toppled from the top spot just five weeks earlier the winner would create a definitive case for himself.

 

The contrasts in styles played out over the fight’s first half as Taylor’s supersonic speed trumped Chavez’s dogged aggression. As early as the second round, however, Chavez’s hammers inflicted damage as three big rights broke the orbital bone under Taylor’s left eye and another blow reopened a gash on Taylor’s lower lip that originally had been created in training.

 

Taylor threw and landed far more punches over the first 11 rounds but in terms of punishment effected Chavez was on top. “J.C. Superstar” had enjoyed a sterling 10th and the 11th featured torrid back-and-forth action. Entering the 12th, however, Taylor had leads of seven and five points while the third judge believed Chavez to be a one-point winner. All Taylor had to achieve immortality, and to break Chavez’s historic 10-year undefeated streak, was stand for three more minutes.

 

His corner, however, felt differently. Lou Duva and George Benton urged Taylor to fight hard and “The Kid” did his best to obey as he fired more than 100 punches. Chavez, who had to sense he was behind, nevertheless took his time. A right with a minute to go shook Taylor and he hurt him again by winning an exchange of rights with 24 seconds to go. With Taylor barreling forward toward the corner pad, Chavez pivoted and unleashed a crunching right that floored Taylor.

 

Taylor got to his feet at five, after which referee Richard Steele twice asked if he was OK. At the moment he was supposed to answer, Taylor instead turned his head rightward because Duva had climbed onto the ring apron. Because Taylor couldn’t produce an adequate response, Steele waved off the fight with only two seconds left on the clock, a move that has – and forever will – inspire debate.

 

For Ouellet this fight may have been for his Canadian middleweight title but in big-picture terms it was the final step toward an eventual shot at WBC champion Hacine Cherifi. He entered the ring as the Cherifi’s mandatory challenger, the owner of a 25-1 (16 KO) record as well as the passions of the 15,000 who jammed Montreal’s Molson Centre to see him fight Hilton.

 

For Hilton, just 13 days short of his 35th birthday, fighting Ouellet not only was a chance to revive his sputtering career but also an opportunity to gain vengeance for his family. Younger brother Alex suffered two knockouts at Ouellet’s hands, the most recent of which was a three-rounder just seven months earlier.

 

Despite the swelling emotions, the two engaged in an early jabbing contest in the first two rounds with Ouellet throwing more and Hilton landing at a higher rate. Once the action heated up in the third Ouellet’s faster hands, higher volume and sharper impact trumped Hilton’s erratic but accurate spurts. As the fight swung into the middle and late stages, Ouellet’s consistency and neat long-range boxing nullified Hilton’s efforts to work inside his rival’s longer arms.

 

Still, Hilton managed to inflict damage as he opened a cut around Ouellet’s nose in the seventh and showed signs of breathing trouble by repeatedly losing his mouthpiece. But Ouellet regained a sense of order with a commanding 11th that saw him drive back the stocky Hilton with a series of combinations. Entering the 12th, the CompuBox had Ouellet leading 697-326 in thrown punches and 252-173 in total connects.

 

Ouellet controlled the first two minutes of the final round with harder and cleaner punches. With the clock running out in the fight – and possibly his career as a top attraction – Hilton landed a right hand bomb that caused Ouellet to suddenly turn away. Hilton allowed himself to be smothered by Ouellet’s grip but with 26 seconds left Hilton broke free and landed a scorching left uppercut to the point of the chin.

 

Upon impact, Ouellet’s eyes closed and his semi-conscious body involuntarily turned away from Hilton’s assault. Hilton added a pair of thumping rights that prompted referee Denis Langlois to step between them, quickly assess Ouellet’s condition and wave off the fight with 18 seconds remaining.

 

The crowd booed lustily as Hilton climbed the ropes and celebrated his sudden victory. ESPN commentators Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas questioned the timing of the stoppage but as far as Hilton was concerned it couldn’t have been better.

 

By this time, the Bristol born-and-bred Catley had become somewhat of an expert in last-second wins on the road. He earned a title shot by stopping Canadian Eric Lucas with 55 seconds remaining in their WBC title eliminator at the Molson Centre in Montreal, then seized the WBC super middleweight belt from German Markus Beyer in Frankfurt with a knockout 53 seconds into the final session. Now he was facing Thobela – a former WBA lightweight champion – on Thobela’s turf in South Africa.

 

Catley had enjoyed a solid 11th round by outfighting the 33-year-old “Rose of Soweto” on the inside and appeared to be in command entering the final session. He led 108-100 and 105-103 on two of the cards while the third judge saw it even, which meant that Thobela had to produce magic if he wanted to go home with his second title belt.

 

Catley began the 12th with spritely side-to-side movement and fired right uppercuts and left hooks that split the guard. A solid Catley right triggered a volley that seemed to stun Thobela with a little more than a minute left in the fight and for all the world it looked like clear sailing for the defending champ.

 

That world began crashing down with 51 seconds to go when Thobela landed a chopping right to the side of Catley’s shaven skull. The Briton’s right knee dipped toward the canvas but Catley managed to pull himself upright enough to instinctively stagger toward the safety of the ropes. The suddenly energized Thobela chased after his stricken quarry and hit pay dirt with a reach-around left forearm that hit Catley’s windpipe and sent the champion crashing near the neutral corner pad.

 

Catley pulled himself up by the strands and walked unsteadily toward his corner. Though nearly out on his feet he managed to persuade referee Eddie Cotton he was fit enough to continue.

 

With the title suddenly within his grasp and the hometown crowd in a state of pandemonium, Thobela hammered in a series of rights to the head and a hook sent Catley tottering toward the ropes. Four more rights spun Catley off the ropes and into the path of a final right to the chin that left Catley spread-eagled on the canvas. With great effort Catley got to his feet by nine but Cotton had seen enough and waved off the fight. Only seven seconds remained on the clock.

 

Now it was Thobela’s turn to strike a spread-eagle pose on the floor, but unlike Catley this was purely voluntary. Before thousands of his countrymen, Thobela had just completed one of boxing history’s most unlikely returns to glory as he won his second belt at a weight limit 33 pounds beyond the first.

 

Fighting under a blue moon at Chase Field in Phoenix, this WBO heavyweight championship fight was fated to have one of the oddest endings in the division’s history.

 

For Lyakhovich, this was the first defense of the belt he won from Lamon Brewster seven months earlier while for Briggs this was his last best chance to seize the brass ring. In terms of style and body type, Briggs was light years away from the lights-out bomber who generated such excitement in the early to mid-1990s. While he still had the orange dreadlocks, he packed on nearly 50 pounds of muscle and thus depended on explosive spurts to either bag his man early or take him out late.

 

Briggs’ counter hook stunned Lyakhovich in the opening round and he buzzed the Belarusian in rounds eight and 11, but the defending champ controlled everything in between with busy jabs, accurate hooks, smart movement and plenty of patience. The plodding pace and the long lulls in action caused the crowd to boo as early as the end of round two and the volume of their discontent grew with every succeeding round.

 

Entering the final round of what Showtime blow-by-blow man called a “distasteful” heavyweight title fight, Lyakhovich led 106-103, 106-103 and 105-104, more than a working margin to retain his belt by decision. Briggs began the round well with a hefty hook to the jaw but Lyakhovich responded with one of his own a few moments later. With Briggs desperate to produce a big finish and Lyakhovich doing what he could to hold off the New Yorker, the final round had by far the most sustained action thus far.

 

A wicked hook stunned Lyakhovich with one minute remaining and a snappy follow-up right forced the champ into instant retreat. A huge lead right with 32 seconds to go sent shock waves through Lyakhovich’s body and a second one left him in a heap near Briggs’ corner. A badly dazed Lyakhovich arose at five and barely survived referee Bobby Ferrara’s examination.

 

Another compact right to the jaw and a four-punch volley left Lyakhovich hunched over and in a state of near-helplessness. The effects of Briggs’ late assault finally caught up to him as he fell through the ropes and onto the scorers’ table an instant before the final bell sounded. Ferrera said after the fight that he waved off the contest the instant Lyakhovich sagged into the ropes, and thus the official time of the TKO was 2:59 of round 12.

 

There was some controversy as to whether the fight should have been stopped at that point, but a brief examination of the rules quashed any doubt. First, they stated that the bell could not save a fighter in any round, which meant that Lyakhovich had to regain his feet before the fight could end officially. Second, because Lyakhovich fell through the ropes, he had 20 seconds to return to the ring unassisted. Lyakhovich ended up staying outside the ring for several minutes to clear his head and he was in no condition to fulfill that charge.

 

At age 34, Briggs journey had reached a successful – and bizarre – end and he could not have cut it any closer.

 

Though Froch was the defending WBC super middleweight champion, he was a mystery man to most American fans. On the other hand, Taylor had already achieved worldwide fame by ending Bernard Hopkins’ 10-year reign as IBF middleweight champion while seizing the other three major belts in one fell swoop.

 

But the goodwill he gained from that title win was lost with an uneven reign which included: a disputed rematch win over Hopkins; a 12-round draw against Winky Wright; two unimpressive decisions over outsized Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks; and two defeats to Kelly Pavlik.

 

A lopsided win over badly faded Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy, however, signaled that he could summon extended flashes of the skills that had excited so many earlier in the decade.

 

Those skills carried him to an early lead over the strangely lethargic Froch, who suffered the first knockdown of his pro career in round three, courtesy of two booming rights.

 

But Froch had faith that Taylor’s well-documented stamina problems would doom him but coming into the 12th time and mathematics were working against him. Froch trailed 106-102 on two cards while improbably leading by the same margin on the third. Both fighter and trainer knew he needed something special to turn the tide.

 

A huge right with 1:53 to go began that process, stiffening Taylor’s legs and sparking a torrent of blows from the Briton. Taylor desperately backpedaled around the ring to avoid further damage but he was virtually defenseless against Froch’s hammering rights.

 

Taylor bravely kept his feet and fired back whenever he could, knowing that a knockdown could produce a tidal wave of momentum that couldn’t be stopped. Three more searing rights drove Taylor to the floor with 44 seconds to go. Taylor regained his feet at nine but his senses were scrambled beyond all function.

 

The fired-up Froch bulldozed Taylor across the ring to another set of ropes, where he pounded Taylor again and again with windmill shots. A head-snapping, arms-lowering right to the chin prompted referee Michael Ortega to rightly intervene with 14 seconds left.

 

During the research for this story, many other examples of last-round heroics emerged. Not all of them were of the come-from-behind variety, but each turned doubt into certainty.

 

Here are just some of the honorable mentions:

 

Most of this junior middleweight title tilt was a war in the trenches with plenty of pushing, pulling and, most importantly, punching. The rugged infighting eventually took a toll on the defending champion’s stamina and facial features, for his eyes ended up horribly swollen. By the 14th Wajima was a wide-open wild swinger and he was running virtually on fumes. Still, he led by two points on two cards going into the 15th. The hard-bitten Texan took advantage early in the final round with a chopping right that dropped Wajima to his haunches. After arising at two, Wajima was sent down again with a right just above the ear. This time Wajima got up at six but he still had half the round to go. That proved to be too much time as a final barrage ended matters at the 1:54 mark.

 

The fates eventually returned the favor to Wajima, for after regaining the belt from Albarado and losing it to Jae Do Yuh, Wajima gained the title for the third time with a 15th round KO of Yuh. The time of the stoppage – 1:47 – was almost identical to his loss to Albarado.

 

Fighting with a horrific butt-induced gash since the third round, Galindez mounted a dramatic last-round charge that went down to the final second – literally. With Kates flat on his back, referee Stanley Christodoulou tolled the fatal figures at 2:59 of round 15.

The fireworks began the day before the fight when Muangsurin and Brooks nearly came to blows at the pre-fight medical checkup. As for the fight itself, Brooks scored a third round knockdown with a solid one-two but the crude 2-to-1 favorite hammered Brooks from the fourth round on, scoring knockdowns in the 14th and 15th en route to a victory in the fight’s final 30 seconds.

 

This fight was destined for the history books before the opening bell even sounded as this was the first world title bout involving two college graduates. The battle itself was a corker with several shifts of momentum and after 14 rounds the fighters each led on one card by a point while the third judge saw it even. Palomino ended any suspense by scoring two knockdowns in the 15th and registering a TKO with 34 seconds left.

 

The loser’s tragic death appropriately overshadowed what had been a stirring comeback by the veteran Davila. The Californian, making his fourth attempt at a 118-pound belt, was down by five and two points but even on the third card before a flurry of blows halted matters 33 seconds into the final round.

 

In a fight filled with bruising action, Lee raised massive swellings on Banke’s face and was in a position to win entering the final two rounds. But Banke scored a knockdown in the 11th and added two more in the 12th to force a stoppage at the 1:55 mark.

Several hours later and thousands of miles away from the dramatics provided by Banke-Lee in South Korea, Perez produced an even bigger comeback in Puerto Rico. He surmounted deficits of three, three and five points to win the vacant WBO flyweight title at 50 seconds of the final round.

 

Defending his WBC flyweight champion in Chang’s hometown, Kittikasem overcame three knockdowns to pull even with “The Korean Hawk” entering the final round. The Thai scored a pair of knockdowns in the fight’s final minute and referee Tony Perez correctly halted the fight with 24 seconds on the clock.

 

This was another fight where post-fight circumstances trumped the action that precipitated it. Trailing badly entering the 11th round, Eubank overcame his own knockdown with a massive uppercut that eventually led to a knockout seconds into the 12th and final round.

 

“Chiquita” had already lost his chance for a Michael Carbajal superfight when he was stopped in six rounds by Rolando Pascua, and here he was less than three minutes away from repeating that scenario. Down by one, one and two points entering the final round, Gonzalez turned on the power and netted a knockout at the 55-second mark.

 

Pettway was one of the most fun fighters to watch because he either scored off-the-floor knockouts or he ended up on the floor himself. All seven of his defeats came by knockout and the loss to Vaden – his fifth – was particularly heartbreaking. Leading by one point on all cards going into the final round, Pettway fell victim to “The Ultimate” rally as Vaden scored a stoppage with 27 seconds left.

 

Despite being down by six and four points on two cards and up by two on the third, Mitchell regains the WBA super middleweight title with knockdowns in rounds nine and 12. Time remaining – 28 seconds.

 

This high-energy back-and-forth affair broke open when Perez’s shotgun jab dropped Mabuza in the opening minute of the final round. Mabuza, who the announcers saw as being two points ahead at the time, arose at six and desperately held on with both gloves to try and run out the clock. Perez’s propeller-like attack allowed him to break free long enough to land a right that had Mabuza stumbling drunkenly, a sight that moved referee Kenny Chavalier to step in at 1:06.

 

The one-time U.S. Olympian and defending WBC junior flyweight champion built a solid lead over the unheralded Tamara in the first nine rounds but showed alarming signs of fatigue entering the championship rounds. He took a battering in the 11th that some might have deemed worthy of a 10-8, but entering the 12th Viloria still lead 106-103 and 105-104 while trailing 105-104 on the third. Sensing he was on the brink of history – and spurred by the sight of Viloria tottering and repeatedly falling to the floor – Tamara strung together enough combinations to persuade referee Bruce McTavish to stop the fight with 75 seconds left.

 

This is not a complete rendering of history’s greatest buzzer-beaters, but I am saving one of the best for another time. That’s because this fight’s 30th anniversary is coming up and this ending was so mind-blowing that it deserves an article of its own. Until then, happy reading.