FARK.com: (365538) It's been 25 years since the most devastating punch in sports history

If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

		It's been 25 years since the most devastating punch in sports history (usatoday.com)		50
		More: Cool

• • •

392 clicks; posted to Main » on 26 Nov 2002 at 7:48 PM | Favorite | share:

Share this link:

URL:

http://fark.com/go/365538

Bookmark:

Article Comments close

50 Comments (+0 »)

Archived thread

The_HR_Issue		2002-11-26 06:25:28 PM

And I care about this why?

ChernobylOne		2002-11-26 06:41:29 PM

Anyone got a link to a video of the original fight?

Just_Another_Arsehole		2002-11-26 06:44:54 PM

Tomjanovich suffered fractures of the face and skull, a broken nose and separated upper jaw, a cerebral concussion, and severe lacerations around his mouth. In effect, the bone structure of his face was knocked loose from his skull.

I've had worse, happened to me twice yesterday.

Slikrx		2002-11-26 07:05:34 PM

Funny, never heard about it before....

next....

Megain		2002-11-26 07:21:15 PM

what the headline fails to point out, is that it was devastating to about 2 people. one of which i am obviously not.

vetbridge		2002-11-26 07:46:44 PM

ksdanj		2002-11-26 07:56:28 PM

When I saw the headline I knew exactly what it was referencing. It might be one of those things you 'had to see.' It's kind of like when Joe Theismann's lower leg when snap, crackle, and pop one Monday Night several years ago.

God, I'm old.

Hybrid		2002-11-26 10:54:40 PM

SI had this in their magazine a month ago.

bigpeeler		2002-11-26 11:00:48 PM

I remember seeing this on TV when it happened. It was no 'fight'. It was the epitome of a 'sucker punch'. Rudy was running back upcourt when Kermit turned and nailed him in the face. Other than the Theisman leg break, this was the sickest thing I had ever seen.

If I find a link, I'll post it.

Jacque_Strapp		2002-11-26 11:02:21 PM

Show me the movie!

Longview		2002-11-26 11:04:16 PM

It was the nastiest bare-knuckle punch I've ever seen. It absolutely caved in his face. When Rudy slumps to the floor, you just knew he was more than "knocked out".

chipaku		2002-11-26 11:07:53 PM

Rudy T rules! go Rockets!

GatorScott		2002-11-26 11:08:38 PM

Have ya'll seen the video clip from some south american bball game where a huge center hits a ref that he's arguing with? Equally as bad.

Basketball = most explosive atheletes in the world with no protective gear at all. It's a good thing most of the violent ones go into football instead.

Ishkur		2002-11-26 11:16:21 PM

I'm a pretty big sports buff, but even I have never heard of this before.

I guess its because my chosen sport is hockey, and if you go back enough years (y'know, before Bettman pussified the league), this type of thing happened all the time.

I remember an old tale about how Gordie Howe was in his rookie season in 47 and some veteran on the other team was giving him a hard time. So finally Gordie got sick of him and in the second period they droppped the gloves. Gordie hammered the living shiit out of the guy, broke his jaw in 3 places. He later went on to score a goal and an assist, marking what is today known as the Gordie Howe Hat Trick (a goal, an assist, and winning a fight).

He went on to play 26 seasons in the NHL. The other player left the game with a permanently disjointed jaw, and never played again.

Now, I've heard (and seen) Lawrence Taylor's cracking Theisman's leg. But I haven't heard of this before.

Zeusgod		2002-11-26 11:19:18 PM

Ghost pains.

Hyernel		2002-11-26 11:19:47 PM

DOWN GOES FRASIER!!
DOWN GOES FRASIER!!
DOWN GOES FRASIER!!

Oh... a different one?

TheloniusP.Funksmith		2002-11-26 11:28:50 PM

JEE-ZUS! What a punch!

Miles_OToole		2002-11-26 11:30:12 PM

Washington, who retired in 1982, is 51 and has struggled in recent years, losing a lot of money on several business ventures, going through a divorce, failing to land what he says he is perfect for - an assistant coaching position in the NBA.

And people say there's no justice in the world. Sounds like the dumbass got exactly what he deserved: a shiatty life.

Imh0tep		2002-11-26 11:31:07 PM

I wanna see too. Come on. TSG is years late on this one...

skaboomizzy		2002-11-26 11:32:37 PM

I'm just upset that USA Today seems to have forgotten the concept of "paragraphs". You remember, several sentences without indentation that combine to form a single point.

USA Today is consciously written on a 3rd grade level.

ManCalledFoot		2002-11-26 11:37:31 PM

I'm a huge sports fan, going back even before that era, and I only vaguely remember this story. Pro hoops was really second tier back then, and most of us were too busy snorting Peruvian crystal off a cheerleader's ass while racing our 440 Hemi Cudas and blasting Zeppelin to notice.
/liar

mynameisneo		2002-11-26 11:38:53 PM

Emile Griffith and Benny Paret anyone ???
But that might be punches instead of punch ?

Nucleic		2002-11-26 11:46:36 PM

The columnist has obviously never witnessed 1970's hockey.

NumbersGuy		2002-11-26 11:46:41 PM

Who knows where we can find a clip of the punch. I've never seen it.

mattjarrells		2002-11-26 11:53:54 PM

I still say Joe Theisman's leg break is the most disturbing injury in sports. Or Tim Krumrie's.

Ouroborus		2002-11-26 11:57:24 PM

Rudy T got hit so hard that the metallic taste in his mouth was spinal fluid

Qermaq		2002-11-27 12:01:09 AM

J_A_A: Wher'd you quote that from? It's not in the article...

Qermaq		2002-11-27 12:04:43 AM

... "It would have been on 'Nightline', on the Sunday news shows. Look at how much coverage the (Latrell) Sprewell incident got, and there was no film and no video of any of it."

Feinstein has written a new book about an even more insidious court incident from the '70s that also would demand round-the-clock coverage in today's sports media circus. On Dec. 9, 1977, Lakers forward Kermit Washington collapsed Rockets All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich's skull with a straight right hand. That blow changed the puncher, the victim and the game forever....

The "no video" comment was about another incident.

dirtiest_sanchez		2002-11-27 12:25:21 AM

Tyson v. Givens?

GEAH		2002-11-27 12:27:20 AM

I remember seeing it on the news when it happened. It was ugly. Part of the problem was that Rudy was running into the punch--never a good idea!

degrawj		2002-11-27 12:27:53 AM

all that article that vegasj said is that there are not as MANY different replays of past sporting events because they did not have all the cameras and stuff set up. it didn't say that there wasn't ANY footage, just not nearly as much as there is today.

DaNightTripper		2002-11-27 12:30:13 AM

can anyone at least post a link to the Joe Theisman video clip? I haven't seen either!

C'mon...I thought the internet was supposed to have all this stuff!! lol

BloodyL		2002-11-27 12:30:44 AM

From what I've heard, this was a really big incident. I mean, Rudy nearly died from it. From then on, their lives were both seriously different. Just think of all the stigma that had to have surrounded both of these guys. I would really like to see the video, so post it if you find it.

Ishkur		2002-11-27 01:02:49 AM

come on, where's the damn clip.

If they can have whole websites devoted to R Budd Dwyer, there has got to be some archive on the net that has THIS.

PovRayMan		2002-11-27 02:02:34 AM

Waiting for the video clip..

HarryBeanBag		2002-11-27 02:11:06 AM

It's been 25 years since the most devastating punch in sports history

and it's been less than a month since the most devastating knock out punch in election history.

BOOYAH!!!

landmower		2002-11-27 02:22:37 AM

What about the punch that Boom Boom Mancini threw..you know the one that KILLED Duk Ku Kim?

Any boxing fans here care to correct my spelling?

stubblyhead		2002-11-27 03:02:27 AM

so a boxer died in the ring. sucks for him, but big deal. they're supposed to be punching each other. you can barely make a fist in the nba anymore without getting slapped with a T.

vile7707		2002-11-27 03:21:09 AM

I have to agree with Landmower here that was the most devistating punch in sports history. It knocked the poor bastard's eye right out of it's socket.

Robot Bastard		2002-11-27 03:57:42 AM

I'm glad sports history wasn't on the SAT because I have absolutely no idea what fight is being talked about, and I live in Houston. Of course, I also didn't know Bush was our governor until he ran for president. Ah well, back to my regular programming...

PlastiqueJeebus		2002-11-27 08:47:03 AM

So, Washington was arrested for battery, right? Right?

One thing I never got about sports is where these overgrown children beat the hell out of one another and nobody gets taken away for it. If I did the same thing the cops would be hauling my ass off to jail.

<deleted>		2002-11-27 08:57:58 AM

And if whitey had punched non-whitey the outroars would reverberate still.

gimpel		2002-11-27 09:14:50 AM

Landmower I watched that fight. It wasn't ONE punch that killed Kim. The fight was a grueling bout. It was outside in the daytime in Las Vegas--you could see the sweat dripping off of both fighters who were completely exhausted. It went fourteen rounds with Mancini knocking Kim down in the fourteenth. Kim was struggling to get up when he was counted out. He was taken to the hospital after the fight and died of a blood clot. (see this for more info.)

That is not to say that it wasn't tragic; it was. It is just that THIS punch was so horrific. Tomjonavich was sprinting at, let's say, roughly 30 mph when the full force of Washington's sucker punch landed. As the article states, it shattered T. face. Kim had beaten Mancini pretty badly too, when he was knocked down. In my opinion, and shady recollection, the fight could have gone either way until the knockout.

SkunkDuster		2002-11-27 10:27:58 AM

11-27-02 09:14:50 AM Gimpel
Tomjonavich was sprinting at, let's say, roughly 30 mph...

30 mph you say?

Say an olympic sprinter does the 100 meter dash in 10.24 seconds. Assuming they could maintain that pace, they could cover 35156.25 meters in an hour. Translate meters to miles and you have 21.85 mph.

Methinks either you are embellishing a bit, or that Tomjonavich is in the wrong sport.

ChernobylOne		2002-11-27 10:43:57 AM

I still say the final blow in the Apollo Creed vs. Ivan Drago bout was the most devastating punch in history. Dirty Russian killed an American hero...

ZipBeep		2002-11-27 10:55:14 AM

Thanks, VegasJ,

This is just a farking ad for this farking book.

USA Today Whores!

zim1		2002-11-27 12:50:52 PM

What about that Mike Tyson fight from about 10 years ago where he knocked the guy out in 90 seconds? I think everyone who paid for front-row seats to that one considers it a hell of a lot more devastating than this.

TheGasPasser		2002-11-27 02:39:17 PM

I remember an old tale about how Gordie Howe was in his rookie season in 47 and some veteran on the other team was giving him a hard time. So finally Gordie got sick of him and in the second period they droppped the gloves. Gordie hammered the living shiit out of the guy, broke his jaw in 3 places. He later went on to score a goal and an assist, marking what is today known as the Gordie Howe Hat Trick (a goal, an assist, and winning a fight).

He went on to play 26 seasons in the NHL. The other player left the game with a permanently disjointed jaw, and never played again.

Holy shiat hockey sucks. Don't dare even call it a sport.

The mere fact that games can end in a tie says a lot about why people watch hockey. It's not really about winning.

Big Al		2002-11-27 07:37:15 PM

11-27-02 02:39:17 PM TheGasPasser
Holy shiat hockey sucks. Don't dare even call it a sport.

Excuse me? Its not a sport because hockey players are smart, good, AND tough? Ive watched basketball players throw punches before. And its hilarious. The only reason this is so special in NBA history is because its probably the only time a player has landed his punch

Big Al		2002-11-27 07:38:54 PM

11-27-02 02:39:17 PM TheGasPasser
The mere fact that games can end in a tie says a lot about why people watch hockey. It's not really about winning.

The mere fact that games can end in a tie says a lot, it says that playing the game requires such energy, most players can't handle more than 4 periods. Especially playing games every other night. So you play 1 OT period, and if no one scores, then its a tie. Funny, they have the same thing in football overtime. Moron.

Displayed 50 of 50 comments

Redisplay/refresh comments

This thread is closed to new comments.