Barak Bess picked Terence Crawford’s knockout of David Avanesyan as his knockout of 2022.
The WBO welterweight champion had been expected to finally take on Errol Spence Jr. at the end of the year in order to settle the undisputed status at 147 lbs, but instead that clash has been put back to 2023, if it is to happen at all.
Instead, he took on European welterweight champion Avanesyan for a big-money pay-per-view bout, winning with a combination knockout to stay unbeaten and prove his credentials once again.
Bess told the DAZN Boxing Show, saying: “I don’t care if there’s animosity, if you spoke before, if you know each other’s kids, I don’t care about none of that, I just care about the knockout.”
He continued: “My knockout of the year is Terence Crawford’s vs. David Avanesyan. Why? It’s the same thing, two-punch combo, the second punch knocked him flat out, he didn’t get up for a long time.
“As a matter of fact it was very scary. The difference is, the reason I give it to Bud, is because Bud is right here, you might go on BoxRec and see that he’s a southpaw, but he’s not. He’s a right-handed fighter, he does everything with his right hand, he was raised fighting right-handed, he eventually learned to box from a southpaw stance, he begged his coach to let him do it.
“He did that knockout from a southpaw stance, that’s truly amazing.”