Jake Paul has been a highly divisive figure in boxing, but whether you love him or hate him, it was one of his events that saw a devastating KO of the year contender.
Last year Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson in Netflix’s first foray into boxing, but the fight was originally meant to take place months earlier.
In July, following the postponement of the Tyson fight, Paul was forced to face a replacement in Mike Perry, a bare-knuckle boxer. Though the opponent was not the one fans initially expected, the undercard delivered one shocking result.
KO of the year leaves prospect face-down on the canvas
The card featured the likes of Amanda Serrano, who is set to face Katie Taylor for a third time, Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. and many more, but one fight took all the attention.
Ashton ‘H2O’ Sylve was 11-0 going into his fight with 16-0 Lucas Bahdi, yet the ESPN Prospect of the Year 2022 was expected to beat the more experienced fighter, as a result of his sheer talent and amateur pedigree.
And that is what happened, at least for the first five rounds. Sylve took every round from Bahdi, and looked set to win a shut-out decision.
That was until a swift combo saw Sylve land face-first onto the canvas, rendered completely unconscious.
The commentators said at the time: “Face-first! Knockout of the year contender! Lucas ‘Prince’ Bahdi has just eviscerated Ashton ‘H2O’ Sylve!”
Bahdi was actually a replacement for Sylve’s original opponent, Floyd Schofield, who also withdrew from his fight with Shakur Stevenson after accusing Stevenson of foul play.
Lucas Bahdi’s KO of Ashton Sylve was beaten by this heavyweight demolition
The Ring Magazine Awards listed five nominees for ‘Knockout of the Year’, which included Angelo Leo’s KO of Luis Alberto Lopez, and Gervonta Davis‘ dismantling of Frank Martin.
Another nominee was Jaime Munguia‘s upset stoppage defeat to Bruno Surace, who he’ll rematch on the Canelo vs Scull undercard.
The winner, however, was none other than Daniel Dubois, who dropped Anthony Joshua, who once blasted Lennox Lewis, multiple times in front of a record crowd, before stopping him emphatically in the fifth.