Tyrone Brunson (boxer)

Tyrone Brunson (born January 29, 1985) is an American professional boxer, notable for holding the record of the most consecutive first-round knockouts for over 6 years (8 March 2008 – 14 July 2014).

Amateur career

Brunson hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and comes from a long line of middleweight boxers from the city. His amateur career extended over 90 fights, finishing with a record of 82-12 with 79 knockout wins.^[1]

Professional career

Brunson turned professional in 2005 with a KO victory over Kevin Carey in a fight which lasted just 25 seconds. He had 7 more fights that year, all of which ended in 1st round KO victories for Brunson. As with his debut 4 of those fights lasted less than 30 seconds, with his quickest victory coming in just 17 seconds against Terry Rork.

Brunson's KO streak continued into 2006, where in his first fight of the year he defeated James Morrow for the Mid American middleweight title.

On June 24, 2017 Brunson scored the biggest win of his career against seasoned veteran Kermit Cintron, a respected and dangerous puncher. In Philly's Fight of the Year, Brunson overcame two knockdowns to put Cintron on the floor three times to win by KO.

Chasing the record

By early 2007 Brunson's record had improved to 14-0, with all of his victories coming in the 1st round, and he was closing in on the unofficial North American record for consecutive 1st-round KOs held by Arthur “Young Otto” Susskind, who was credited with 15 consecutive 1st-round KO victories in the early 20th century. The major difference between Brunson's and Otto's streaks is that Brunson's began with his pro debut whereas Otto's streak didn’t start until well into his pro career.

On March 27, 2007 he equaled Otto's record when he KO'd David Johnson after 52 seconds of the 1st round. Brunson's record equaling effort was almost foiled due to a bizarre accident: Early in the bout Johnson managed to get tangled up with referee Dale Grable, which caused him to fall and injure his ankle. Despite only being able to limp around the ring he indicated to the referee that he wished to continue and the bout restarted. A few seconds later Johnson was legitimately knocked down with a barrage of punches from Brunson. This time he decided that his ankle injury was too painful and chose not to continue. As the second knockdown was as a result of a punch and not a slip the referee ruled the bout a TKO victory for Brunson (Had Johnson decided his ankle injury was too severe to continue when it first happened, the bout would have been ruled a No Contest).

Brunson claimed the North American record as his own on May 5, 2007 by KO’ing Tony Watson after just 100 seconds of the 1st round, moving his record to a perfect 16-0. The next milestone in his sights was the world record held by Edwin Valero of Venezuela with 18 consecutive 1st-round KOs. Brunson equalled Valero’s total with a victory over Jamie Waru at the Sky City Casino in Auckland, New Zealand on June 8, 2007, and on March 8, 2008 recorded his record breaking 19th consecutive 1st round KO when he defeated Francis McKechnai in just 72 seconds at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Michigan.

On 15 August 2008 Brunson’s run of consecutive 1st round KO victories was brought to a halt at 19 when in his 20th pro fight he was held to a draw in a 6 round contest against Mexican journeyman Antonio Soriano.^[2] The decision was greeted with a chorus of boos from the attending audience, who felt that Soriano had done enough to gain the victory ^[3]

On December 4, 2009, Brunson fought Carson Jones. Brunson had a great first two rounds (Of a 10 round fight) sticking Jones with hard, straight jabs. His luck changed in the third round. Jones hit Brunson with a great combo, knocking him down for the first time in his career. Jones continued to pound on Brunson until Brunson was no longer defending himself, the referee then stopped the match, declaring Jones the winner by TKO.

On November 10, 2013, Yemeni minimumweight Boxer Ali Raymi broke Brunson's record by scoring his 20th consecutive first round knockout.

On October 31, 2015, Brunson suffered a decision lost to undefeated prospect Caleb Plant in A PBC Undercard.

Criticism

The main criticism leveled at Brunson by some boxing pundits and fans ^[4][5][6][7] is the extremely poor level of opposition he has faced while making his way to the record.^[8][9] In contrast with Valero, whose first 18 opponents had a combined record of 112-102-17 (1.1 rate), the combined record of Brunson’s opponents was just 60-94-8 (0.6 win rate). Furthermore, of those 18 opponents just 1 had a winning record and 6 had failed to win a single fight in their careers.

2017 Resurgence

After suffering from a string consecutive losses (2014-2015), Brunson scored two consecutive upset wins in 2017 against Brandon Quarles & former IBF Welterweight World Champion Kermit Cintron. ^[10]

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
34	Win	26–6 (2)	Manny Woods	RTD	8 (10), 3:00	Mar 18, 1991	Arena VFG, Guadalajara, Mexico	Won vacant UBF International Super Welterweight title
33	Win	25–6 (2)	Kermit Cintron	KO	5 (10), 1:21	Aug 19, 1990	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.	Won vacant USA Pennsylvania State Super Welterweight Title
32	Win	24–6 (2)	Brandon Quarles	SD	8	Feb 16, 1990	Palenque de la Feria, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico	78-74 77-75 75-77
31	Draw	23–6 (2)	Ismael Garcia	SD	8	Nov 3, 1989	Tepic, Mexico	78-74 74-78 76-76
30	Win	23–6 (1)	Carlos Garcia Hernandez	KO	4 (8), 0:45	Jul 27, 1989	Auditorio Siglo XXI, Puebla, Mexico	Hernandez knocked out 45 seconds into the fourth round.
29	Loss	22–6 (1)	Caleb Plant	UD	8	Jun 21, 1989	Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Mexico	73-79 73-79 74-78
28	Loss	22–5 (1)	Dennis Hogan	UD	10	May 1, 1989	Xcaret Park, Cancún, Mexico	For vacant NBA-NABA USA Super Welterweight title
27	Loss	22–4 (1)	Tony Harrison	TKO	1 (8), 1:02	Oct 22, 1988	Gimnasio Niños Héroes, Tepic, Mexico	Referee stopped the fight at 1:02 of the first round.
26	Loss	22–3 (1)	Decarlo Perez	TKO	5 (8), 2:29	Jun 27, 1988	Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Mexico
25	Win	22–2 (1)	Hansel Mateo	KO	1 (6), 1:33	Apr 18, 1987	Foro Scotiabank, Mexico City, Mexico	Mateo knocked out at 1:33 of the first round.
24	Loss	21–2 (1)	James de la Rosa	UD	8	Feb 21, 1987	Miccosukee Resort & Gaming, Miami, Florida, U.S.	De La Rosa knocked down in the second round.
23	Loss	21–1 (1)	Carson Jones	TKO	3 (10), 2:39	Jul 26, 1986	Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Cabazon, California, U.S.
22	Win	21–0 (1)	Jose Medina	KO	3 (10), 1:31	Mar 21, 1986	Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Mexico	Medina knocked out at 1:31 of the third round.
21	Win	20–0 (1)	Marcos Primera	UD	8	Dec 7, 1985	Palenque Calle 2, Zapopan, Mexico
38	Draw	19–0 (1)	Antonio Soriano	MD	6	Apr 21, 2018	Barclays Center, New York City, New York, U.S.
19	Win	19–0	Francis McKechnai	TKO	1 (4), 1:12	May 7, 1985	Salon Marbet Plus, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico
18	Win	18–0	Jamie Waru	TKO	1 (4), 2:56	July 10, 1984	Coliseo Olimpico de la UG, Guadalajara, Mexico
17	Win	17–0	Lee Hunter	KO	1 (4), 0:59	Jun 2, 1984	Salon Marbet Plus, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico
16	Win	16–0	Tony Watson	KO	1 (4), 1:40	Jan 24, 1984	Auditorio Benito Juarez, Guadalajara, Mexico
15	Win	15–0	David Johnson	TKO	1 (4), 0:52	Dec 27, 1983	Coliseo Olímpico, Guadalajara, Mexico
14	Win	14–0	Kirk Douglas	KO	1 (4), 2:13	Oct 22, 1983	Arena Coliseo, Guadalajara, Mexico
13	Win	13–0	Guy Packer	KO	1 (4), 2:24	July 5, 1983	Casino de los Fresnos, Tepic, Mexico
12	Win	12–0	Chris Grays	TKO	1 (6), 1:23	May 3, 1983	Auditorio Benito Juarez, Guadalajara, Mexico
11	Win	11–0	Charles Dalton	KO	1 (6), 0:30	Mar 1, 1983	Arena-Casino Los Fresnos, Tepic, Mexico
10	Win	10–0	Terry Johnson	TKO	1 (6), 1:10	Jan 11, 1983	Casino Los Fresnos, Tepic, Mexico
9	Win	9–0	James Morrow	TKO	1 (8), 1:04	Nov 30, 1982	Arena Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico
8	Win	8–0	Ian Rumler	TKO	1 (6), 1:39	Nov 2, 1982	Tonalá, Mexico
7	Win	7–0	Bill Tipton	TKO	1 (6), 2:15	Jun 22, 1982	Guadalajara, Mexico
6	Win	6–0	Joe Harrison	KO	1 (4), 0:21	May 23, 1982	Arena Coliseo, Guadalajara, Mexico
5	Win	5–0	Antonio Scott	TKO	1 (4), 1:44	Apr 27, 1982	Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez Moreno, Tijuana, Mexico
4	Win	4–0	Terry Rork	KO	1 (6), 0:17	Apr 13, 1982	Men's Club, Guadalajara, Mexico
3	Win	3–0	Demiko Moore	KO	1 (4), 0:29	Mar 30, 1982	Guadalajara, Mexico
2	Win	2–0	Ralf Franklin	KO	1 (6), 0:18	Mar 9, 1982	Arena Chololo Larios, Tonalá, Mexico
1	Win	1–0	Kevin Carey	TKO	1 (4), 0:25	Feb 16, 1982	Arena Chololo Larios, Tonalá, Mexico	Professional debut

See also

• Edwin Valero
• Ali Raymi

References

External links

• Official Web Site
• Professional boxing record for Tyrone Brunson from BoxRec