In a year full of devastating finishes, five stood apart for the silence they created afterward. These are 2025's boxing knockouts of the year.
It wasn't just the timing of Brian Norman's lunging knockout win over Jin Sasaki in June that immediately put him in the running for Knockout of the Year. It was the aftermath, too.
Norman evokes Mike Tyson with his encyclopedic boxing knowledge and appreciation of superstar fighters from bygone eras. And so it was no surprise to see him no-sell the celebration, just as "Iron" Mike did during his intimidating prime. Tyson's iconic boxing coach Cus D'Amato taught the concussive punching heavyweight that knocking opponents out cold was expected.
“Why are you excited?” D’Amato once asked a celebrating Tyson. “You anticipated this. Anything different [than a finish] would be a failure.” Tyson rarely reacted that way again.
Norman is cut from that cloth.
Sasaki was already out cold before the back of his head bounced off the black canvas at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. Fans watching live from home would likely have leaped from their seats, bellowing an impromptu obscenity in pure excitement, but the then-WBO welterweight champion Norman walked toward a neutral corner and bowed at the traditionally disciplined Japanese crowd.
The brutality of the welterweight’s knockout had everything one wants in a Knockout of the Year.
Sasaki’s still body contrasted sharply with Norman’s nonchalance. The champion simply absorbed the magnitude of a win in his opponent’s nation before returning to America with great acclaim. Sasaki reportedly suffered from memory loss in the immediate aftermath and didn't remember the past six weeks of his life.
The best knockouts are remembered not only for how they land, but for how they linger, and no knockout in 2025 stayed with the sport longer than Norman’s.
But for a year in which thumping finishes became routine, Norman was never alone in the sweepstakes for the sport’s ultimate punctuation mark.
2. Jai Opetaia def. Hüseyin Cinkara
Cruiserweight phenom Jai Opetaia had steadily built a reputation as a fierce puncher, stopping five of the seven opponents he faced in cruiserweight title fights ahead of his return to Australia in December.
And as Opetaia showed against Hüseyin Cinkara, it’s not just the consistency of his power, but the damage it inflicts on already compromised opponents.
With Cinkara a half-step from the ropes in the eighth round of their IBF championship bout, Opetaia closed the gap, planted his feet and uncorked a huge left hand that folded the German in an instant.
Things could have been far worse for Cinkara had the ropes not cushioned his fall, but his route to the canvas was nonetheless a foregone conclusion having been separated from his senses.
The referee Chris Flores waved the fight off while standing over the stricken opponent.
Officials, and his corner, stormed the ring and lifted his motionless limbs as if to get a response from the clearly concussed 40-year-old. But no response came for two minutes.
As devastating knockouts go, few this year rival Opetaia’s haunting victory over Cinkara, and the unsettling scenes that followed.
3. Murat Gassiev def. Kubrat Pulev
Murat Gassiev’s return to the ring in December, in a heavyweight bout against Kubrat Pulev, also contained spectacular violence.
Much of the early proceedings at the IBA Pro event in Dubai were a slow-burn, but things escalated in the sixth round when Gassiev dropped Pulev with a nasty left hook.
The Bulgarian had the heart to try and make it to his feet but he was so disorientated that his body failed him and he couldn’t even sit upright, let alone stand.
It was a similar punch that saw Gassiev contend for Knockout of the Year honors in 2018, when he stopped Yuniel Dorticos at cruiserweight with a left hook, so it has developed into a signature shot.
4. Fabio Wardley def. Justis Huni
Having broken Frazer Clarke's jaw in 2024, much was expected of rising heavyweight star Fabio Wardley, who, again, delivered one of the year's nastiest knockouts in 2025.
With his low guard and shots to the body, Wardley obliterated Justis Huni in June with a devastating bait-and-switch as he set up his fight-finishing overhand right, sealing a stunning come-from-behind victory for the surging Brit.
For Huni, it was a shot he never saw coming, as he was instead trying to land a right hand of his own — only to have been beaten to the punch, and to the floor, in quick measure.
5. Masataka Taniguchi def. Condo Inaba
Having lost a split decision to Thanongsak Simsri at the end of 2024, Masataka Taniguchi needed a statement to recapture lost momentum. And with his third round stoppage win over Condo Inaba in May, he did just that.
The southpaw lasered a left hook onto Inaba's jaw, snapping his opponent's head back. Inaba face-planted the canvas, and lay on his front in an awkward heap. Brutal.
Uncrowned's voting breakdown for Knockout of 2025:
Honorable mentions:
Anthony Joshua def. Jake Paul
Frank Martin def. Rances Barthelemy
Moses Itauma def. Dillian Whyte
Jai Opetaia def. David Nyika
More from Uncrowned's 2025 boxing awards:
Category: General Sports
