This is really here just for the celebration pose.
Reginaldo dos Santos does not rank anywhere near Chris Eubank’s greatest wins. This was before Eubank even became a world champion. But Eubank’s precursor to his first fight against Nigel Benn is a KO that would be a social media delight had such a thing existed back in 1990.
At this stage in his career, dos Santos was an 11-4 fighter with not one seriously notable win. Eubank was an up-and-coming star of world boxing. This was a mismatch on paper and a “get rounds in” booking and it did not even accomplish that.
Literally the first punch Eubank threw was a big right hand and planted dos Santos right away. Dos Santos tried getting up in the same way one would rise out of bed in a groggy state, but to no success when it came to actually beating the ten count.
The subsequent post-fight reaction by the eccentric Eubank is what makes an ordinary KO over an overmatched opponent into something memorable. His victory pose staring emotionless at the camera while dos Santos is being tended to in the background is something else.
Watch the video at the top of the page.
Dos Santos ended his career 15-13 (11 KOs) and suffered a slew of KO losses in Brazil before winning his last four bouts. Sadly, he died at just 34 years of age and just a few months after his final fight.
This was genuinely one of only a handful of first-round (T)KOs in Eubank’s career, and he was never a big puncher to begin with. When he took his big fight against Benn later that year, he beat “The Dark Destroyer” by TKO in a classic to become WBO middleweight champ. His greatest success came at super-middleweight where he’d reign supreme as WBO champ until losing to Steve Collins in 1995. He retired with a mark of 45-5-2 (23 KOs) and comedian Greg Davies’ impression of him is phenomenal.