FIGHTNEWS CANADA's
2009 Knockout of the Year
Winner: Lucian Bute KO4 Librado Andrade
They talked for over a year, of referees, of long counts, even of questionable chins. Seems that even a win against Librado Andrade a second time wasn’t likely to silence the critics, even in victory. If he was to win, it would be boxing and by running, avoiding the freight train and escaping with a points win. They obviously forgot the about the fighter who started his pro career with fifteen straight knockouts. Bute destroyed the iron-jawed Andrade, beautifully spinning and taking him down with a left-hook early in the round, and then delivering a monster shot to the midsection that had the Mexican warrior down and unable to get up. “He really got me with that left hook,” Andrade told Fightnews, “It was a perfect shot, I tried to get up and I just couldn’t”
Sometimes things happen so quickly that it takes you several moments of rewatching it over and over to appreciate what you've seen. So goes it with Jean Pascal's dramatic knockout out of former world title challenger Pablo Daniel Zamora Nievas. Pascal was making his return to the ring following his first pro defeat at the hands of Carl Froch and Nievas was determined to use the Englishman's blueprint to victory. Over the first 4 rounds, it worked. Nievas pressured Pascal into the ropes and into a defensive posture with his aggression. The same pattern began in round 5, that is until Pascal came off the ropes with a flurry (three left hooks) that left Nievas on his back, stretched out and looking for reality. There was nothing left for him to do other than listen to the number 1 through 10 being counted outloud. Wow!