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Compilation of 40 of the best knockouts from 2012
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33 of the above knockouts were detailed detailed previously, but I'll list them in chronological order:
2012-01-12 Saul Rodriguez KO1 Henry Hernandez (USA)
2012-01-13 Lucas German Priori KO3 Pehuen Roberto Correa (Argentina)
2012-02-04 Alejandro Perez KO8 Derrick Wilson (USA)
2012-02-18 Adonis Stevenson KO1 Jesus Gonzales (Canada)
2012-02-24 Rocky Jerkic KO1 Dinesh Kanth (Australia)
2012-03-02 Joan Guzman KO8 Jesus Pabon (USA)
2012-04-13 Armando Torres KO2 Ernesto Leon (Mexico)
2012-04-14 Anthony Flores KO1 Gabriel Medina (USA)
2012-04-14 Garrett Wilson KO12 Andres Taylor (USA)
2012-04-14 Terence Crawford KO5 Andre Gorges (USA)
2012-04-14 Todd Unthank-May KO1 Ronnie Lawrence (USA)
2012-05-05 Demetrius Andrade KO1 Rudy Cisneros (USA)
2012-05-19 David Price KO4 Sam Sexton (UK)
2012-05-19 Mikkel Kessler KO4 Allan Green (Denmark)
2012-06-01 Cristian Morales KO4 Victor Segura (Spain)
2012-06-09 Randall Bailey KO11 Mike Jones (USA)
2012-06-15 Felix Lora KO4 Massimiliano Ballisai (Italy)
2012-06-23 Trevor Bryan KO1 Hector Hodge (USA)
2012-07-05 Shane Cameron KO4 Monte Barrett (New Zealand)
2012-07-07 Anthony Prescott KO2 DeAndre Phillips (USA)
2012-07-07 Javier Torres KO1 Francisco Diaz (USA)
2012-07-28 Cletus Seldin vs Jonathan Garcia (USA)
2012-08-11 Antonio Escalante KO2 Leonilo Miranda (USA)
2012-09-14 Radivoje Kalajdzic KO1 Shannon Anderson (USA)
2012-09-29 Alejandro Gonzalez Jr KO1 Alvaro Calderon (Mexico)
2012-10-06 Javier Nicolas Chacon KO1 Sebastian Eladio Ferreyra (Argentina)
2012-10-12 David Lemieux KO1 Alvaro Gaona (Canada)
2012-10-19 Oliver Tchinda KO2 Guzman Castillo (Spain)
2012-10-20 Daniel Jacobs KO1 Josh Luteran (USA)
2012-10-20 Danny Garcia KO4 Erik Morales (USA)
2012-10-20 Eddie Gomez KO2 Saul Benitez (USA)
2012-10-20 Jose Castro KO1 Carlos Acevedo (Puerto Rico)
2012-11-03 Shinsuke Yamanaka KO7 Tomas Rojas (Japan)
Since then, these remaining 7 knockouts have caught my eye:
2012-11-10 Ryno Liebenberg KO9 Donald Kampamba (South Africa)
2012-12-08 Juan Manuel Marquez KO6 Manny Pacquiao (USA)
2012-12-12 Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar KO1 Gustavo Daniel Gonzalez (Argentina)
2012-12-17 Denis Lebedev KO4 Santander Silgado (Russia)
2012-12-30 Sherzod Husanov KO3 Maxim Chemezov (Russia)
2012-12-31 Solomon Haumono KO5 Kyotaro Fujimoto (Japan)
2012-11-09 Gary Russell Jr KO3 Roberto Castaneda (USA) [added later]
You can thank @ZProphet_MMA for all the animated gifs. I did the YouTube videos.
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Taking the 7 new KOTY candidates into account I have revised my top 10 list:
10. Shinsuke Yamanaka KO7 Tomas Rojas
09. Adonis Stevenson KO1 Jesus Gonzales
08. Anthony Prescott KO2 DeAndre Phillips
07. David Lemieux KO1 Alvaro Gaona
06. Shane Cameron KO4 Monte Barrett
05. Mikkel Kessler KO4 Allan Green
04. Garrett Wilson KO12 Andres Taylor
03. Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar KO1 Gustavo Daniel Gonzalez
You wouldn't guess that the undercard of a Marcos Maidana fight would trump the KO of the main event, but Cuellar KO1 Gonzalez easily did. The sensational, head snapping KO gets extra props for the way Gonzalez's mouthpiece flew out of his mouth upon impact. It flat out looked choreographed for a movie. Yet it was real!
02. Juan Manuel Marquez KO6 Manny Pacquiao
01. Lucas German Priori KO3 Pehuen Roberto Correa
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Marquez KO6 Pacquiao gave Priori KO3 Correa a run for its money, but ultimately fell short as far as I'm concerned. Were the fights fought at entirely different levels of skill? Absolutely. But what's that got to do with anything? I'm not trying to rate what's popular. I'm not trying to rate what everyone saw. I'm trying to rate what was the best. And the only relevant way to factor talent into the equation is if the fights were supposed to be a mismatch. It's not like Jason Nesbitt KOed the great Manny Pacquiao. The great Juan Manuel Marquez did. The playing field was even. Lucas Priori and Pehuen Correa were nothing more than 2 unheralded prospects making their pro debuts. Their playing field was even too. It's all about relativity.
But hey, call the "knockout of the year" anything you want. I'm not here to try to get you to think like me. I'm mainly here to present as many excellent options to choose from as I can find. If you've seen something great that I haven't, I would love for you to tell me about it.
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Coming Monday: Breaking down the Round of the Year
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Ryan Bivins is a staff writer for BadLeftHook. You can contact him on twitter (@sweetboxing) or through email (rgbivins@gmail.com).