The Trevor Berbick Three-Step: 2018 Version

Over the years, there have been many oddities in the ring not the least of which were the “Chicken Dance” and the double knockdown.

Zab vs. Tszyu (2001)

Many boxers have done the “Chicken” but the mother of all dances was performed by Zab “Super” Judah when Kostya Tszyu sent him rocking and reeling with a heavy-handed right on November 3, 2001 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It was Judah’s first defeat and he could not handle it emotionally as he attacked referee Jay Nady to give the affair an infamous dimension. Others have since done the dance but nowhere near as well as Zab who at age 41 is still boxing.

Murphy and Mutti (1985)

Another oddity has been the double knockdown. There have been several, but without question the most dramatic occurred in the twelfth round (of a 15-rounder) in an all-out punishing war between Lee Roy “Solid Gold” Murphy and Zambia’s Chisanda Mutti in Monaco in 1985. It has become a YouTube legend.

The fight turned surreal in the twelfth when both fighters exchanged several sweat-spattering bombs in a neutral corner and then threw lightning fast rights at the same time. Both landed simultaneously with full force and impact. Both men fell together in a heap hanging on to each other with Mutti landing atop Murphy before sliding to the floor. Glancing at Murphy who was struggling to get up in a corner (and keeping tabs on the progress of both), referee Larry Hazzard began the count over Mutti. Murphy, badly hurt, barely made it up by the seven count. Incredibly, Hazzard proceeded to count out Mutti at the 1:53 mark. Mutti remained down a full three minutes. Behind on the scorecards at the time, Murphy had retained his title in what can only be described as a real life “Rocky” happening.

The fight took a heavy toll. Neither fighter would ever be the same. “Solid Gold” would lose his title by TKO to Ricky Parkey a year later. Mutti would go 2-4-1 before retiring.

Bundrage vs. Powell (2005)

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”—Rich Marotta

When Cornelius “K9” Bundrage and Sechew Powell, both then undefeated, met at Foxwoods in 2005 the stage was set for a solid match but no one could possibly have expected what was to come.

Detroit’s Bundrage was bone dry when he came into the ring and that often can be a bad thing. As soon as the bell rang, both men connected simultaneously with hard punches and both went down simultaneously. Referee Richard Flaherty did not rule a knockdown, but it clearly was on both accounts. Both immediately got up. Suddenly Sechew Powell unloaded with a straight left that connected flush and sent the Detroit native down hard. Amazingly, Bundrage then did a combination of the famous Zab Judah chicken dance and Trevor Berbick’s down-up-down-up-down against Tyson. K9 hit the canvas three times in 20 seconds. The entire fight lasted 22 seconds.

Tyson vs. Berbick (1986)

“Watching Tyson fight was like watching ‘Jaws’, …You never knew what was going to happen.”-Steve Lott

Tyson’s destruction of Trevor Berbick occurred on November 22, 1986, when he unleashed what would become a signature, albeit unorthodox combination – a right downstairs followed by a right uppercut and then a left hook upstairs. Berbick went down hard and then began lurching around the ring. The lurch had him get up and go down two more times before referee Mills Lane ended the bizarre “knockdown.” The affair lasted longer than Bundrage-Powell but not by much; it lasted 335 seconds and became an indelible memory for fight fans of that era.

Jorge Lara vs. Claudio Marrero (April 28, 2018)

The most recent Berbick -type knockdown occurred this past year in relative obscurity as rugged Dominican Claudio “The Matrix” Marrero (23-2) came off a shocking KO defeat at the hands of Jesus Rojas to take out undefeated Mexican super featherweight Jorge “Pilon” Lara (29-0-2) in just 33 seconds at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

Both men came in heavy handed and held wins over top-notch opponents. Lara, for example, KOd Fernando Montiel (54-5-2) in 2016, decking the former champion four times in the first round before the slaughter ended. For his part, Marrero KOd undefeated Carlos Zambrano (26-0) in the first round in 2017 to capture a pair of fringe featherweight titles.

This time, it would be Marrero who connected with a vicious left hook seconds into the fight. Lara went down glassy-eyed and got up, but then fell down again and that ended the fight. But Lara was not through falling down as he got up a third time and then fell helplessly across the full width of the ring. The fight was over before many fans were in their seats. Marrero had introduced Lara to the Trevor Berbick three-step.

It’s on YouTube. Have a look. It won’t take but a few seconds of your time.

 Ted Sares is one of the world’s oldest active power lifters and Strongman competitors. He is a lifetime member of Ring 10, and a member of Ring 4 and its Boxing Hall of Fame. He also is an Auxiliary Member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).

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