Fight of the Century: Mayweather’s best KO’s

To get you warmed up for the bout being dubbed as "the fight of the millenium," we're taking a look at the best KOs of each fighters' illustrious careers. Today, we look at Floyd "Money" Mayweather (Jae C. Hong/AP)

After many, many years spent talking about it Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will finally get in the ring together and decide who is the greatest fighter of their generation in a bout being dubbed “The Fight of the Century.”

To get you warmed up for this epic clash, and to also remind you why this is a fight the world has been waiting for we present to you the greatest knockouts in the two fighters’ illustrious careers.

Today, we look at Mayweather.

The “Pretty Boy” makes his debut


After getting robbed in the 1996 Olympic Games and settling for a bronze, Mayweather made his pro debut against what was essentially a sacrificial lamb in Mexican fighter Roberto Apodaca in October of that same Olympic year.

Maybe he was still pissed off over that egregious decision in Atlanta, but Mayweather showed off some of the defensive skills that would make him an all-time great and a devastating left-handed kidney shot to score a first-round knockout in his first professional fight.

Mayweather goes wild on Manfredy


Following his first title fight as a pro, a 21-year-old Mayweather defended his WBC super featherweight title against Miguel “El Diablo” Manfredy where he was able to score a second-round technical knockout in stunning fashion.

Many criticize Mayweather for being a supposedly boring fighter because he doesn’t let his hands go, but back in 1998 young “Money” let his fists fly against a helpless Manfredy, landing punches at will to pick up perhaps his most iconic knockout victory of his career.

N’dou out on his feet


Originally from Grand Rapids, Mich., Mayweather gave his birthplace a real show in 2003 when he knocked out Phillip N’Dou in the seventh round with an amazing counter right, followed up with two more devastating straight rights coming right down the pipe.

What makes this knockout unique is after the referee’s eight count, N’Dou said he could continue, but ended up walking towards a neutral corner, forcing the referee to call the fight over – the man was essentially dead on his feet.

The “check left hook”


In 2007, British fighter Ricky Hatton – who also came into the bout undefeated – crossed the Atlantic with massive support and actually looked pretty good against Mayweather, knocking him off balance a few times. However, in the sixth-round Hatton would be deducted a point after the referee deemed he was throwing punches at the back of Mayweather’s head, something he was visibly upset about, and also probably his ultimate downfall.

From that point onward, Hatton became much more aggressive, knowing he needed to make up that point and that fell right into Mayweather’s hands in the 10th round when he seemed to purposely corner himself in order to bait Hatton into throwing a lead right hand that Mayweather countered perfectly with a check left hook that hit Hatton so hard his head bounced off the turnbuckle. This resulted in a knockdown that Mayweather quickly took advantage of to finish the fight just a few moments afterwards.

This was perhaps Mayweather’s most destructive knockout of his career, and also perfectly encapsulates everything that makes him great – defence, quick hands, counter-punching ability and intelligence.

Don’t call it a sucker punch


Some have called the above knockout “cheap” or a “sucker punch.” For those that do, they obviously didn’t watch the fight, or just blatantly ignored everything going on leading up to this beauty KO.

In 2011, Mayweather took on hard-hitting “Vicious” Victor Ortiz, whose superior size and strength was penned as a means to give Mayweather some problems. This prediction turned out to be somewhat true as in the fourth round, Ortiz was able to hurt Mayweather a little bit before bullying him into the corner and then head butting him intentionally.

Ortiz appeared apologetic, hugging Mayweather before going to a neutral corner, but it’s clear the champ was having none of that because when the referee resumed the fight Ortiz looked to be going for another hug, that Mayweather didn’t reciprocate and ended up walloping him with a devastating left-right combination.

No matter how sorry he was, there’s no way Ortiz should’ve went for a second hug when the ref had resumed the fight. In boxing you must protect yourself at all times and Ortiz wasn’t doing that. Is it really that unfair that Mayweather took advantage of Ortiz breaking the sport’s cardinal rule – particularly after he himself was the victim of actual foul play?

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