One of the central tensions and inherent beauties of boxing is its open format – the world of possibilities available to either combatant at any moment. In other sports, a clock and a scoreboard impart linear limitations that, at some point during competition, can create a divide too vast to cross. Basketball has no 10-point shot. In soccer, no great equalizer exists.
In boxing, there is no margin too wide, no running out the clock. Until the ringing of the final bell, anyone – any fighter – still has a puncher’s chance. The constant, overarching threat of the knockout doesn’t merely add dimension to a fight. It’s the movie’s tidal wave and ticking time bomb, the all-or-nothing plot twist.
Some of the best knockouts of 2025 delivered on that shock value, including the stoppage BoxingScene judged to be the Knockout of the Year: Lucas Bahdi’s sixth-round folding of Ashton Sylve.
The matchup – staged at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on July 20 – was a worthy one, with two undefeated lightweights testing themselves against one another at pivotal points in their careers. For Sylve, then 11-0, the fight was a chance to build on his first win in a 10-rounder, a unanimous decision over Estivan Falcao in February. For the 30-year-old Bahdi, 16-0 at the time, Sylve, 20, was a gifted prospect and the A-side in a bout that had the potential to stamp him as more than just a late-rising regional opponent.
The initial action all seemed to go the way of the younger man, as Sylve took all five of the first rounds on all three judges’ scorecards. He appeared comfortable and seemed to sniff out every tactic and trap Bahdi tried to spring on him. But with 37 seconds remaining in the sixth round, Sylve lined his opponent up for a right hand, leaving his left slightly low and extended. And when all seemed lost, Bahdi found his opening. He unleashed his own right hand – straighter and quicker – over the top of Sylve’s left, landing it flush just about the mouth. The punch stunned Sylve, who, in one motion, lurched forward and turned to load up his right hand again. It was like feeding a toothpick to a wood chipper.
Bahdi, hardly believing his good fortune, didn’t waste time admiring his work. He fired another straight right hand and immediately followed with a left hook, landing both on Sylve’s chin, jerking his head violently to each side. The second shot in the three-punch sequence was probably enough to send Sylve to the canvas. But the left hand ensured a cartoonish finish – one made all the more surreal by Sylve’s “Inside Out 2”-themed trunks. Lifted up off the toes of his boots, his body stiff and gaze vacant, Sylve fell slowly, dramatically and face-first to the floor, like a Looney Tunes character hit by an anvil.
When ring announcer Joe Martinez solicited thoughts and prayers for the vanquished Sylve from the assembled crowd, it felt like part of the bit – until Martinez intoned, “and may God restore him.” As impressive and invigorating a knockout as it was, the aftermath was a reminder of the vicious reality and terrible toll fighters often pay for our entertainment.
Honorable mention: Brunco Sarace KO6 Jaime Munguia (December 14)
Another upset in another sixth-round stoppage that was dominated by the favored fighter – until it wasn’t. In just his second fight since going 12 punishing rounds with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to absorb his first career loss, Munguia was staying busy and having his way with Sarace in his hometown of Tijuana, Mexico. Sarace, who had never before fought outside his native France, was dutifully taking his beating and seemed on board with allowing the pro-Mungiua crowd to go home happy.
That is, until Sarace flipped the script in the sixth, all in a single moment, all with one unfathomable punch. With Sarace shelled up and his back on the ropes, Munguia hammered away, looking for a weak spot. He threw a left hook, jab feint and left uppercut – all of which glanced off or never found a home. When Munguia pivoted slightly to his right and took a short step back, Surace, who had previously ended just four of his 27 fights by knockout, briefly showed jab but immediately came behind it with a viper strike of an overhand right that leveled Munguia in front of a stunned Estadio Caliente crowd.
“Can you believe this?” asked broadcast analyst Chris Algieri to no one in particular. No answer was necessary.
Honorable mention: Osleys Iglesias KO1 Evgeny Shvedenko (June 6)
Iglesias, a Cuban southpaw fighting out of Germany, has been in Europe and Canada since his 2019 debut getting in rounds – at least in a manner of speaking. He has actually gone the distance only once in 13 professional fights, and his bout with Shvedenko at Montreal Casino in Quebec, Canada, in June was one of his shortest and most terrifying yet.
Although Iglesias’ thudding punches seemed to suggest a cleaner, more powerful quality to his punches, Shvedenko was trading his own leather and appeared no worse for the wear as the last seconds of the first round fell away. But suddenly Iglesias turned into a lead right hook that exploded on the left temple of Shvedenko, who, seemingly having his circuitry briefly rewired, hit the mat, thrust his arms forward and kicked a leg involuntarily – shades of Nonito Donaire’s 2011 knockout of Fernando Montiel, or Simon Brown punching while on his back, having been put there by Vincent Pettway in 1995.
Read the full article here
