Fine line between boxing and barbarism breached in 'frightening' KO

The reaction from those watching the replays of Nelson Asofa-Solomona's sickening knockout of Paul Gallen speaks volumes.

Former Cronulla Sharks teammate of Gallen, Michael Ennis, looked desperately shaken as he admitted he found it hard to watch.

Tim Tszyu called it "frightening".

In real time, it was even worse.

"Oh jeez, oh no!" cried experienced caller Ben Damon on Main Event's commentary as the footage showed Asofa-Solomona's fist detonating onto Gallen's expressionless features.

"The last one was the worst one boys," Danny Green cried.

"That was the one he didn't need, he added, as Damon said, "that's no good," over the top of him.

"The last one was a bad one," Green reiterated.

"That's hard to watch," a shaken Damon summarised.

The fight only lasted two minutes and 56 seconds.

In that time, Asofa-Solomona both proved he was capable of taking another step in his quest to climb boxing's Penrose stairs, and similarly unsuitable to do so. 

After a steady start, a thunderous right hand from Asofa-Solomona staggered the 45-year-old Gallen back towards the ropes.

Then another left-right combination put him right back against them.

Asofa-Solomona saw Gallen's head roll back, his arms flailing and glimpsed the opening for an upper cut.

He promptly delivered, landing a blow with such hideous force that Gallen was sent to the brink of unconsciousness.

A second upper cut unquestionably delivered him into that foul abyss.

But Asofa-Solomona wasn't done.

An unnecessary third grazed Gallen's granite chin as he sank to a seated position, his legs folded under him like a grotesquely discarded marionette.

Still, Asofa-Solomona wasn't done.

As referee Chris Condon threw himself between the fighters, a black-shirted angel of deliverance from the punishment Gallen had already endured for too long, Asofa-Solomona aimed another, sickening blow into the head of his stricken rival.

Few will understand this sanctimonious sermonising about such a despicable blow taking place amidst the wanton violence of a boxing bout.

This was boxing, wasn't it?

Hadn't Paulo Aokuso landed such a sweetly-timed left hand onto the head of Mobin Khahrazeh earlier in the night that it had observers positively purring?

Isn't it the point to knock your opponent out, to inflict such damage to a fellow human's brain that they lose consciousness in the pursuit of entertainment?

Yes, oddly enough, it is.

But even within the sanctioned barbarism of modern blood sports, there are rules in place to limit the hurt inflicted on a helpless opponent without being accused of hypocrisy.

It's there in almost every rule book you can care to find.

For example, the Australian National Boxing Federation:

55. Some fouls for which a referee may penalise or disqualify a boxer are:

(a) Hitting an opponent who is down or is rising from a knockdown.

There can be caveats.

It took eight seconds from the first of those crushing Asofa-Solomona punches to land before referee Condon stopped the fight, but the four punishing upper cuts all came in the space of two-and-a-half horrific seconds.

It's barely enough time for anyone to react, not least a man who is on the charge and fighting for his future as a novice boxer.

But Gallen was clearly down.

Not only that, he was clearly out.

Hundreds of boxers around the world have learned when enough is enough and to stop.

Hitting an unconscious opponent is beyond the pale, an unacceptable sin that breaches the unique brotherhood two fighters join when touching gloves with one another in the squared circle.

But Asofa-Solomona was clearly fired up.

His ill-advised leap into the crowd moments later proved that.

There is a caveat there, too.

Although making no illusion to it in the ring, Asofa-Solomona added context to his mad dash towards a punter in his post-fight press conference, telling reporters at the TikTok Entertainment Centre that he had been subject to a racist taunt.

"Someone was doing an ape gesture. I stood on the ropes and it looked like someone threw something at me," he was reported as saying.

"If I had my time back, I would, because that's not on. But what that guy did to me, in terms of that gesture, is not on either.

"I'd just seen red."

Nobody should ever be subject to such foul, vindictive and uneducated slop and nobody should ever deign to suggest how someone should react if they are.

But his calamitous dash into the not-so-cheap seats added to the chaotic conclusion of the fight, meaning his indiscretion at its sickening conclusion was largely overlooked.

Asofa-Solomona proved to most onlookers that he has some skill in a ring on Friday night.

But the next time he delivers a knockout blow, he'd do well to stop before he risks inflicting any further damage.