Green's quick KO is best of the year
When super middleweights Allan Green and Jaidon Codrington signed to fight each other in an undercard bout on Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" series, it figured to be a highly competitive fight between two elite prospects.
It was anything but when the former amateur stars met Nov. 4 in Miami, Okla. The result was as violent, as disturbing and as memorable a knockout as you will ever see. It is also the ESPN.com knockout of the year.
Green (18-0, 12 KOs) ruthlessly obliterated Codrington (9-1, 9 KOs) in a mere 18 seconds to vault himself onto the national scene.
The fighters had trash-talked each other leading up to the fight, with Green dismissing Codrington as a waste of time. So when the bell rang, he wasted little of it.
Green stunned Codrington with a left hook in the opening seconds of the fight, then rained down 15 more unanswered blows.
"And he has rocked Codrington's world," Showtime broadcaster Nick Charles bellowed. "It's over! Over in 18 seconds! Allan Green shocks the world! He absolutely devoured the New Yorker, Jaidon Codrington!"
Midway through the eruption, Codrington was already out cold, yet with the blows coming so fast, he took several more shots before the referee could finally jump in. But it was too late.
Codrington's limp body bent in half, and he slid between the second and third ring ropes, where he dangled face down like a wet towel hanging on a rack. His body was half in the ring and half out of the ring.
"Until I saw the fight [on tape], I didn't realize how awesome it was," Green said. "When I saw it for myself, I thought, 'Whoa!' To me, that was the worst knockout I have ever seen. It was brutal. I had not seen anything like that before, and I'm not being partial. I'm just being honest."
| Rafael's KOs of the Year | |
|---|---|
| Year | Fight |
| 2005 | Allan Green KO1 Jaidon Codrington |
| 2004 | Antonio Tarver KO2 Roy Jones Jr. |
| 2003 | Rocky Juarez KO10 Antonio "Chelo" Diaz |
| 2002 | Roy Jones KO7 Glenn Kelly |
| 2001 | Lennox Lewis KO4 Hasim Rahman |
| 2000 | Lennox Lewis TKO2 Frans Botha |
Green celebrated his awesome knockout without realizing the distress Codrington was in as the ring filled. Doctors finally got to Codrington, who was pulled gingerly back into the ring, where he remained unconscious for several minutes.
"I figured it was a devastating knockout because the crowd and my corner were going crazy," Green said, "but I couldn't see what was going on because there were so many people in the ring."
While Codrington underwent neurological tests and a CAT scan before being released from the hospital, Green had himself a memorable knockout, one Codrington probably won't recall unless he watches the tape.
Other sweet shots:
| Jose Luis Castillo KO4 Diego Corrales II (Oct. 8 at Las Vegas) |
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 In their rematch, Corrales (foreground) decided to go toe-to-toe with Castillo again. This time, it cost Corrales. In the October rematch, there would be no historic comeback. Roughly 30 seconds into the fourth round, Castillo slammed a flush left hook into the jaw of Corrales with such force that it appeared as though his head could have flown into the fourth row had it not been attached to his neck. Corrales fell hard, rolled to his side and struggled to all fours but could not beat the count of referee Joe Cortez. When Corrales finally did rise, he stumbled sideways and had to grab the ropes to prevent himself from falling down again. "I knew he wasn't getting up," Castillo said after evening the score with Corrales 1-1, setting up a Feb. 4 rubber match and generating a sensational knockout, even if the fight could not measure up to the lofty standards set by the fighters' epic first battle. |
| Ricky Hatton KO9 Carlos Maussa (Nov. 26 at Sheffield, England) |
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 AP Photo/PA, Nick PottsHatton took down Maussa with a big left hook in the ninth round. He landed a long left hook directly on Maussa's chin, dropping him in a heap in a neutral corner. Maussa got to all fours with his head bowing to the canvas but could not beat the count after such a pulverizing shot. |
| Brian Viloria KO1 Eric Ortiz (Sept. 10 at Los Angeles) |
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 Ortiz, left, and Viloria were all smiles before the bout, but only one would be smiling afterward. As the first round developed, it had all the makings of an all-action bout as they traded shots. Then, suddenly, Viloria crushed Ortiz with a picture-perfect right hand. Ortiz fell as though he had been shot. He struggled to his feet, but had no balance and stumbled backward and fell again as the fight was waved off with one second remaining. Viloria had not only his 108-pound championship but also a highlight-reel knockout in his biggest fight. |
| Edwin Valero KO1 Hero Bando (Sept. 25 at Yokohama, Japan) |
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Valero is the Venezuelan lightweight prospect who is 17-0 with an astonishing 17 first-round knockouts. The kid can crack, but he is medically suspended in the United States because of a past head injury (unrelated to boxing). In his 16th bout, Valero faced Bando in Japan and scored a monstrous knockout. Bando already had been down in the opening seconds of the fight when Valero unleashed an assault that included a right hook on the jawline. It landed with such sheer force that Bando was completely lifted off the canvas for a moment before pitching forward and flopping down to the mat face first for as violent a KO as you will ever see. |
| Jeff Lacy KO2 Scott Pemberton (Nov. 5 at Stateline, Nev.) |
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 Lacy stopped Pemberton in the second round of their IBF 168-pound title fight. Pemberton took the full force of the blow, nearly coming off the canvas, and pitched forward face first. The punch was so destructive that referee Vic Drakulich didn't even bother to count. |
| O'Neil Bell KO11 Sebastian Rothmann (Aug. 26 at Hollywood, Fla.) |
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Bell was making the first defense of his cruiserweight title and struggling against Rothmann. That is until, with one minute to go in the 11th, he landed two huge right hands to Rothmann's head, dropping him face first to the canvas. Rothmann was out cold, his hands pinned underneath him. The referee could have counted to 100. |
| Jhonny Gonzalez KO3 William Gonzalez (Sept. 1 at Tucson, Ariz.) |
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 Rob DeLorenzoJhonny Gonzalez won a slugfest over William Gonzalez. The two Gonzalezes already had exchanged knockdowns in the round before Jhonny finished matters with a right hand out of nowhere that leveled William, who smashed his head on the canvas as he went down for the count. |
| Antonio Margarito TKO10 Sebastian Lujan (Feb. 18 at Atlantic City, N.J.) |
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This one is not for the squeamish. Margarito was dominating the welterweight title fight on ESPN2, punching Lujan nearly at will. You could say he was boxing Lujan's ears off. Literally. Lujan's left ear had been injured earlier in the fight, but late in the 10th round, it got much worse. It was so badly damaged that referee Dave Fields stopped the bout, telling the corner, "His ear is hanging off." He wasn't exaggerating. The ear was a bloody mess, flapping off the side of his head like a small lobster tail. This was simply one of the most graphic, disgusting things we have ever seen in a ring. |
| Bobby Pacquiao KO7 Carlos Navarro (June 17 at Friant, Calif.) |
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 Mark Tabay The first time, referee Jon Schorle was ready to call it a slip but counted at Navarro's odd request, and Navarro rose at eight. The second time the fighter went down, it was on a slip and Schorle refused to count. That angered Navarro, who pounded the canvas and appeared to be coming apart emotionally. Navarro reluctantly continued, but when Pacquiao landed a left hook to the head moments later, Navarro took a knee. When Schorle began to count, Navarro -- incredibly -- counted out loud with him until they reached 10 and the fight was over. Strange, but true. |
| Marco Antonio Barrera KO2 Mzonke Fana (April 9 at El Paso, Texas) |
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 Barrera's knockout blow snapped Fana's head back to the canvas. It was because he was facing such an overmatched opponent that Barrera had the opportunity to score a sensational knockout in his first junior lightweight title defense. He scorched Fana with two right hands, the second one rocking Fana's head back as he fell backward to the mat in devastating fashion. The referee didn't even bother to count before waving it off. |
| Nicky Cook KO2 Dazzo Williams (June 16 at Essex, England) |
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Nothing fancy in this European featherweight title fight. Cook, one of Britain's finest young fighters, landed a single, debilitating left hook to Williams' liver. Williams fell immediately to his knees, dropped to all fours and couldn't beat the count while gasping for air. Perhaps the best body shot knockout since Roy Jones cracked one of Virgil Hill's ribs. |
| "Irish" John Duddy TKO1 Lenord Pierre (March 18 at Mashantucket, Conn.) |
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It was St. Patrick's Day weekend, and Duddy thrilled a legion of Irish fans at the Foxwoods resort with this devastating performance on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights." The middleweight prospect swarmed Pierre, also an undefeated prospect, at the opening bell. It was a relentless 83-second attack that included two knockdowns, the second from a hail of lefts and rights. Duddy simply destroyed Pierre, who never knew what hit him. |
Also coming this week: Awards for prospect and fighter of the year
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
