1) Badou Jack vs. Marcus Browne (2019)
By virtue of its location and depth, there has arguably been no stranger or more disturbing cut than the gash down the forehead Jack received against Browne in 2019. Blood running right between the eyes, it offered us an insight into Jack’s brain we could have frankly all done without.
Badou Jack is split open (Getty Images)
2) Vitali Klitschko vs. Lennox Lewis (2003)
Having agreed to fight at short notice, it was a shame the brilliant heavyweight title fight between Lewis and Klitschko in 2003 had to end due to several cuts around the Ukrainian’s left eye. Up to that point he had been boxing well and causing Lewis all manner of problems and was clearly annoyed to have been stopped.
3) Jorge Barrios vs. Rocky Juarez (2008)
Dropped in the end by a flurry of punches in round 11, Barrios had until then battled tooth and nail despite the fact his top lip had been split completely open. That he made it as far as he did before being stopped not by Juarez but the doctor was nothing short of miraculous.
4) Rocky Marciano vs. Ezzard Charles (1954)
A known bleeder, Marciano was not only cut around the eye in his first fight with Charles, but he then suffered a sliced left nostril in the 1954 return. With blood running like a faucet, Marciano had to summon all his strength to finally KO Charles in round eight.
5) Henry Cooper vs. Muhammad Ali (1966)
No stranger to blood, Cooper’s two meetings with Ali were both stopped due to cuts, with the first fight stopped in round five and the second, which was spared the drama of Cooper flooring Ali, halted in round six.
6) Alan Minter vs. Marvin Hagler (1980)
Notorious for causing a riot at Wembley Arena, the cuts Minter sustained against Hagler in 1980 are the stuff of boxing legend. Face a mask of blood, Minter’s middleweight title fight was cut short to a chorus of boos in round three.
7) Miguel Cotto vs. Joshua Clottey (2009)
Never one to give up in the face of adversity, Cotto somehow heard the final bell against Clottey in 2009 despite a cut the size of a slug running right across his eyebrow. Cotto ultimately lost by decision that night, but was roundly praised for just getting through the fight and remaining competitive.
Cotto’s cut (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
8) Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Amir Khan (2009)
Barrera’s return to the UK was ruined by the horrendous injury he sustained in the first round against Khan, which eventually led to the fight being stopped in the fifth round. It was a gash high on the forehead, covering half of Barrera’s face in blood, and it later required 33 stitches to close.
9) Kevin Mitchell vs. Jorge Linares (2015)
Though not the first boxer to suffer from swelling in addition to a cut, Mitchell’s war wound by his left eye in 2015 was as bad as we have seen in the UK for some time. Both deformed and split open, Mitchell did extremely well to reach the 10th round, which is when Linares put him out of his misery.
10) Tyson Fury vs. Otto Wallin (2019)
Fury had a tougher time with Wallin than many expected in 2019 and a lot of this had to do with a nasty cut Fury received which ran the length of his right eyebrow. The scar tissue from this same injury then came back to later haunt Fury when sparring before his ill-fated fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury needed 47 stitches after the bout (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
Discussion about this post