Sunday Punch: One of the best KOs you’ve probably never seen

You know all about Derrick Lewis, but have you ever seen this KO by Derrick Jefferson?

Before MMA fans fell in love with the swangin’ and bangin’ style of Derrick Lewis, boxing fans had a heavyweight Derrick worth watching.

Derrick Jefferson stood 6’6” and 240 pounds, showing devastating power and and a willingness to slug it out. HBO spotted Jefferson’s fan friendly style and gave him regular television time, and he kept on winning.

His all-time greatest moment came against Maurice Harris on November 6th, 1999 at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those two unleashed hell on each other, with Jefferson dropping Harris three times over six rounds and Harris putting Jefferson on the canvas in their back-and-forth second round. There’s one uppercut by Jefferson that straightened Harris up and somehow he didn’t go down.

In round six, Jefferson had scored his second knockdown of the fight against Harris. As he went in for the finish, Harris responded and had Jefferson hurt, but as the round drew to a close, Derrick uncorked the cleanest left hand you’ll ever see and sent Harris straight into unconsciousness. It won Ring Magazine’s Knockout of the Year and frankly it is one of the single greatest one-punch shots I have ever seen.

Watch the highlights at the top of the page. It is worth every damn second.

Jefferson would lose his next fight to David Izon after basically gassing himself out. A broken ankle severely compromised him against Oleg Maskaev, who stopped him in the fourth round. He would eventually get a title shot vs. Wladimir Klitschko and get crushed in two rounds. Jefferson retired after a loss to DaVarryl Williamson, ending his wildly entertaining career with a record of 28-4-1 (21 KOs), and one of the great KOs in boxing history.

Oh and by the way, Jefferson vs. Harris was the co-main event. The main event that night was Oleg Maskaev knocking Hasim Rahman out of the ring and right next to Jim Lampley.