The sport of boxing has seen a host of bizarre knockouts, but this one may be one of the best of recent times.
In Japan today, 30-0 Junto Nakatani will face 10-0 Ryosuke Nishida in a world title unification fight in Tokyo, Japan.
Nakatani is currently a bantamweight, but has spoken before on the possibility of fighting Naoya ‘The Monster’ Inoue.
Many believe Nakatani, who has 23 KOs to his name, could be the man to slay the man, the myth, the monster. Despite this, it was on his undercard that a truly unbelievable knockout took place.
Riku Masuda knocks out Michell Banquez after scoring two knockdowns with one punch
On the undercard, 7-1 Riku Masuda faced 23-5 Michell Banquez.
Despite Banquez clearly having more experience, Masuda proved his level as he stopped him in just one round.
It was before the ref waved off the fight, though, that the bizarre moment occurred when one punch from Masuda led to Banquez being knocked down, before getting up and dropping to the canvas for a second time.
Masuda has now moved to 8-1.
Junto Nakatani destroyed the man who beat a legend
In 2024, Nakatani, who bloodied Angel Acosta, faced Vincent Astrolabio, who was 19-4 at the time.
Astrolabio had edged a win over stellar amateur Guillermo Rigondeaux just two years prior, and is one of just three men to beat the 23-3 Cuban.
Nakatani, who KO’d Andrew Maloney, never allowed his fight to reach the scorecards, though, and stopped Astrolabio with ease in one round.