Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Punch Counter Groves Remembers Special Beltway Anniversary!

In the latest issue of The Ring Magazine (August 2011), there is a nice article by Lee Groves, who has worked with CompuBox since March 2007. Groves gives his 10 most vivid memories of counting thousands of punches during his career.

In his article, Groves celebrates a moment featuring two Beltway cruiserweights that took place on June 29, 2007 -- exactly four years ago today. The nationally-televised ESPN2 bout between Darnell "The Ding-A-Ling Man" Wilson and Emmanuel "Chukwu" Nwodo at the St. George Theater in Staten Island, NY featured one of the most brutal knockouts that anyone has ever seen. Wilson's 11th round KO was called by some the knockout of the year and gave him the USBA Cruiserweight title. The telecast also gave us a classic call of a knockout by ESPN2 announcer Joe Tessitore.

Here is Groves's description:

"Wilson was in the throes of a punching drought -- four connects per round in the previous four -- when the 'Ding-A-Ling Man' rung Nwodo's bell with the single hardest punch I've seen live. The crushing hook left Nwodo in a heap and down for five excruciating minutes."

For those who haven't seen it or just want to relive it -- what follows is a 10-min capsule of this bout. The knockout still makes me shudder when I see it.