Former undisputed world heavyweight Mike Tyson, dubbed ‘The Baddest Man on The Planet’, was arguably the most devastating boxer ever seen. However, even Tyson needed more than a single punch to record the fastest victory of his professional career. Strictly speaking, his 30-second defeat of Marvis Frazier, son of Joe, in Glen Falls, New York in 1986 was by technical knockout, but after with an opening flurry of punches, including two powerful right uppercuts, Tyson literally knocked unconscious.
Although the veracity of the account has been questioned, in some quarters, according to Guinness World Records, the fastest victory in boxing history was recorded in the Minneapolis Golden Gloves, a regional amateur boxing competition, in Minnesota in 1947. The winner was Mike Collins and his opponent, albeit momentarily, was Pat Brownson.
Naturally left-handed, Collins apparently adopted a conventional posture, left foot and left hand forward, as the bell sounded to start the opening round, but quickly switched to a ‘southpaw’ posture, as normally favoured by sinister-handed boxers. Evidently the move perplexed Brownson; from what was effectively the ‘wrong’ side for his normal, orthodox opponent, Collins threw, and connected with, the first punch of the contest, a powerful left-hook that knocked Brownson to the canvas. Without even starting a count, the referee stopped the contest, handing Collins the verdict by technical knock-out after an elapsed time of just four seconds.