A KO is the ultimate in pro prizefighting, especially if it's somewhat unexpected and/or happens between 2 top ranked fighters. Like for example, Martinez's KO of Paul Williams in their 2nd fight, for me, nothing else in boxing beats it. I certainly don't think a fight is a failure without a KO or a brutal beatdown, but this is the hurt business, and frankly I could give a shit less about seeing 10-12 rounds of the "the sweet science", "technical wizardry", or dancing contests, I wanna see a fucking fight.
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