The round of 2008 - No 3

Kendall Holt v Ricardo Torres, Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas, July 5 - round 1

Well it wasn't a full round, barely a third of one, but it was the most exciting minute in a ring in 2008 (unless your name is Breidis Prescott). But it was also hugely unexpected. After Ricardo Torres stopped Kendall Holt in Colombia for the WBO light-welterweight title in Colombia in September 2007, he did the time honoured American thing of going home and crying foul. It did the trick of getting him a rematch on home soil.

Not that Holt seemed to have much chance after just 13 seconds as an overhand right by Torres put him on the seat of his shorts. It was a flash knockdown, but he was over again within ten seconds of the bout restarting, Torres catching him with a right and left hook as Holt charged forward, dropping the American briefly to the floor.

Torres went for the finish, a big left hook glancing past Holt's chin. With Holt on the ropes, Torres opened up, throwing a big left hook as Holt tried to fight his way off the ropes. It was then that Holt's head caught Torres flush in the face, staggering him. It was not spotted by Jay Nady, the referee, nor indeed anyone until the slow motion replay revealed it, but Torres staggered back, followed by Holt who landed a vicious right hook that left Torres unconscious, propped up against the ropes. Nady abandoned the count at three.

The time - 61 seconds, which is you subtract the counts and the time it takes to "box on", probably meant three knockdowns in only 30 seconds of action.

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