Joe George delivers KO of the Year candidate against Marcos Escudero

Undefeated light heavyweight Joe George was losing his bout against Marcos Escudero, but he pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a late KO. 

Joe George and Marcos Escudero had a history going into their Saturday, Aug. 1, light heavyweight boxing bout on Showtime, but George settled things with a dramatic knockout.

George (11-0, 7 KOs), 31, of Houston, Texas, won a split decision victory against Escudero in his last fight in November of 2019. Many felt that the result was controversial, but George made sure not to leave the outcome up to the judges the second time around.

Escudero (10-2, 9 KOs), 27, of Argentina, was winning their rematch. Going into the ninth round, two of the three judges had Escudero ahead on the scorecards with scores of 79-73 and 77-75. Judge Tom Carusone had George ahead, 79-73.

Escudero was the more active fighter and kept George on the ropes for most of the night. According to the CompuBox punch statistics, Escudero threw 299 more total punches than George and landed 38 more, although George landed at a higher percentage.

Only about 20 seconds into the ninth round, George instantly reversed the tide of the fight. George threw a right hook that Escudero ducked under, but he left his hands down. George immediately followed with a left uppercut that exploded on Escudero’s jaw. Escudero went crashing to the canvas, where he stayed for several minutes.

Joe George upped his status with an eye-catching KO of Marcos Escudero.

It was a scary KO, and Escudero was hurt badly but made it to his feet after several minutes. It’s hard to remember a KO in 2020 better than George’s.

During a post-fight interview, George talked about his strategy that led to the dramatic KO.

“I was setting him up with the jab to the body, I had him leaning over a little,” explained George. “I was shooting the right uppercut, some landed, and some didn’t. I wanted him to get comfortable and relaxed, and that’s exactly what he did. He was relaxed, and I slipped over and just shot it. He gave it to me, and I had to take it. It put him down.”

George talked to the media virtually after the contest. He was surprised to hear that he was down on the cards and insisted that he felt in control of the fight. Fortunately for him, he ended things early.

George plans on moving back down to super middleweight, but he’s on everybody’s radar after his KO of the Year candidate against Escudero.