As a previously unassuming Mauricio Lara sent Josh Warrington crashing to the canvas with one final thudding left hook, the landscape of the featherweight division was thrown into chaos.
Warrington, who stood at the periphery of greatness with his eyes set on a pair of mouth-watering clashes with Can Xu and Garry Russel Jr, now has an arduous comeback journey to negotiate before such dreams can resume.
To call Lara an underdog coming into the bout would be an understatement. This was touted to be as one-sided as the come.
So what went wrong? Were we all just misunderstood about Lara’s abilities? Did Warrington take his eye off the ball? Or did the lack of fans make an impact?
The answer is probably a mixture of the above. But interestingly, this is not the first major upset to occur in the last few months, with boxing in the United Kingdom largely having operated without fans.
And in fact, it’s not just combat sports where we are seeing the impacts of a lack of crowds, we can also see it in football, for example, with a number of Premier League clubs – particularly Liverpool – showing diminished home form since the outbreak of the pandemic.
With that in mind, Sportsmail analyses the five biggest upsets in boxing that have occurred behind closed doors.
Mauricio Lara stunned the world with an emphatic knockout win over Josh Warrington
Behind closed doors: What do the fighters say?
Before we delve into the upsets themselves, it’s perhaps worth noting what a number of fighters have said about their experiences without the fans.
Carl Frampton, who was beaten by Warrington in their 2018 clash, was sympathetic towards his former foe, insisting the Yorkshireman will have been impacted by the empty SSE Arena.
‘I fought in a bubble,’ he said on his ‘Frampton’ YouTube channel. ‘I didn’t like it; I didn’t like the lack of atmosphere.
‘Josh is used to big atmospheres and that has probably affected him as well. The fact that there wasn’t a world title on the line [too]. But you have to give all the credit in the world to Lara.’
Billy Joe Saunders – after his 12-round unanimous points decision win over Martin Murray in a behind closed doors Wembley Arena in December – also bemoaned a lack of fans, insisting he felt as if he were fighting inside a ‘cemetery’.
And though not a boxer, retired UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov is another who was unhappy to be fighting behind closed doors prior to his bout with Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
‘With the fans and without fans is completely two different fights,’ he said. ‘Some fighters, when they don’t have fans, they fight good.
‘When they have fans they fight little bit bad because they’re nervous. If you talk about myself, I love fans.
‘When fans are there, they give me good energy. Even if they support me or not, I have very good energy when fans are there.’
Josh Warrington is destroyed by Mauricio Lara
Josh Warrington was stunned by Mauricio Lara in a shock knockout defeat for the 30-year-old
Many felt Warrington should have been pulled out by his corner after a disaster round four
Now, onto the upsets themselves – and we start with Warrington, who entered Saturday’s bout with a 30-0 record and as the division’s top ranked fighter.
The 30-year-old was looking further down the line at the highly anticipated world title fights with both Can Xu and Garry Russel Jr.
Though having been outside of the ring for a potentially troublesome 16-month spell, Warrington was coming off wins against Lee Selby, Carl Frampton, Kid Galahad and Sofiane Takoucht.
Meanwhile Lara – who was touted as nothing more than an exercise to shed some ring rust – had fought outside of Mexico only once and already had two defeats on his 23-fight record.
Moreover, after his unification bout with Xu fell through, Warrington actively relinquished his IBF strap to avoid a mandatory bout with Galahad – who he beat via split decision in his 29th scalp – to aim exclusively for the division’s big guns.
But then it all changed.
In the first 30 seconds, it appeared as if we may have a total mismatch on our hands, as Lara’s ‘novicey’ stance and approach looked no more than an awkward puzzle to solve.
However, as the round progressed, and Lara landed some of those mighty left hands we had heard so much about in the build-up – though without taking overly seriously – a potential upset was on the cards.
Warrington is generally such a fast-starter, showing strength beyond is record of just seven knockout victories and with an unparalleled engine.
But he started uncharacteristically sluggish, which then continued throughout the fight. And by the fourth round, it was all-but over.
After a succession of heavy blows, Warrington was knocked to the canvas heavily. He managed to get up and fight his way to the corner, but in truth it should have been stopped then.
Regardless, Warrington bravely soldiered on until round nine, where the bout was ended with a clinical left hook.
Whether the pair have a rematch remains to be seen – as does its potential outcome. But with an increased fire in his stomach, and without the accumulative complacency brought out by a lesser opponent and a lack of fans, Warrington will likely be favourite to prevail once more.
Dillian Whyte in one-punch Alexander Povetkin KO
Dillian Whyte was knocked out by one punch as Alexander Povetkin stunned the world
Now, we travel back to August of last year to re-live perhaps the most shocking upset of the behind closed doors era.
Though Warrington’s loss was far more of a surprise given the perceived mismatch, the nature of Dillian Whyte’s defeat perhaps made it a more jaw-dropping spectacle.
Whyte had proven himself to be genuine world-level contender following his defeat to Anthony Joshua, reeling off wins against the likes of Derek Chisora, Joseph Parker and Oscar Rivas.
In Povetkin, Whyte voluntarily put his mandatory position to Tyson Fury’s WBC belt on the line, in a move that proved costly in the end.
The first four rounds showed no signs of an upset, however, as Whyte heavily dropped Povetkin twice in the fourth, with the Russian looking slow and old following a knockout defeat to Anthony Joshua and a grueling draw with American Michael Hunter.
In total control of the fight, Whyte emerged from his seat in the fifth round, looking calm, collected and in no apparent rush to end proceedings.
They would soon be taken out of his hands, though, as Povetkin unleashed a lethal uppercut to send Whyte crashing to the floor, ending his 12-fight winning streak in the process.
Of course, it’s impossible to discuss the intangibles with any real meaning, but you can’t help but wonder what would have happened in front of a packed arena.
Indeed, it was a world-class shot, one Povetkin looked to set-up through the fight, but Whyte undoubtedly switched off with the win at his mercy, and it cost him dearly.
Joe Joyce proves too much for Daniel Dubois
Daniel Dubois looked uninspired as he fell to a disappointing defeat to Joe Joyce
Joe Joyce now looks set for a clash with heavyweight contender Oleksandr Usyk
This is perhaps the least shocking on the list, with most people branding the fight a genuine fifty-fifty beforehand.
However, again it was the manner of defeat that had many scratching their heads, rubbing their eyes in need of a double-take. Yes, that was Dubois in the ring.
The youngster had built up a fearsome reputation with 14 knockouts from as many fights, including an impressive win over Nathan Gorman.
The question was whether a classy operator such as Joe Joyce was a step too far for Dubois at such an early stage of his career, and that proved to be the case in the end as the pair went to battle in an almost empty Church House under the shadow of Westminster Abbey.
Though Dubois had some success throughout a tight affair, landing a number of thudding blows, Joyce never once looked fazed and continued to pepper the youngster with his pin-point accurate jab.
Dubious was clearly in significant distress after repeated blows to his eye – with promoter Frank Warren later revealing he had suffered a fractured orbital socket.
This heavyweight took a knee following a jab in the 10th round and allowed himself to be counted out, earning serious criticism from a number of pundits and former boxers, who insisted Dubois quit.
Though Dubois ultimately made the right call to preserve his long-term health, you have to wonder whether he would have continued to fight on had the bout been in front of a packed crowd.
The outcome would have likely remained the same, but for a heavyweight that offered so much promise – and in a clash that demanded such attention – it was a disappointingly drab affair in the end.
There was no atmosphere at all inside of a Church House that simply didn’t provide the same feel as a packed O2 Arena, or even a Copper Box.
It was all a bit… subdued.
Anthony Yarde loses on points to Lyndon Arthur
Anthony Yarde put in a woeful performance as he lost to Lyndon Arthur on points
Just a week later, there was another major upset in yet another quiet night at Church House.
This time it was Anthony Yarde, who fell to a split-decision defeat to Commonwealth champion Lyndon Arthur in frankly one of the most bizarre encounters of 2020.
Yarde had shown world-level potential in a gutsy defeat to Sergey Kovalev just a matter of fights prior, where only his experience and gas tank prevented him from sealing an almighty win.
The Brit looked a shell of his former self against Arthur, however, who took advantage of his opponent’s remarkably low output to jab his way to victory.
Throughout the fight, an inactive Yarde repeatedly smashed a fist against his chest, almost as if he were involved in a pound-for-pound classic encounter.
But it was only in the 12th and final round that he mounted any serious pressure.
Yarde did, in fact, nearly get the stoppage win, but it was too little too late, and though he looked utterly bemused at the result – which he later described as a ‘robbery’ – he only had himself to blame in what was a woeful performance.
Why Yarde was so convinced that he was the clear winner remains a mystery, but had the fans have been in attendance, they would certainly have told him otherwise.
Shannon Courtenay takes surprise first career defeat
Shannon Courtenay lost her unbeaten record with defeat to Rachel Ball behind closed doors
Finally, we have Shannon Courtenay’s highly surprising defeat to Rachel Ball, in what was her first loss on an otherwise promising record.
Courtenay was the overwhelming favourite heading into the clash. The Matchroom-backed ‘Baby Face Assassin’ came in with a record of five wins in as many fights, with her opponent suffering one defeat in six.
Ball vowed to give Courtenay the ‘shock of her life’, and she did just that in the opening round, dropping the favourite heavily with an explosive left hook.
Courtenay showed a good chin and heart to get up and continue, and she did trouble Ball in rounds four and six in particular, but she wasn’t able to reduce the early deficit and fell to a first-ever defeat.
The loss was perhaps the first real upset of Fight Camp, which Eddie Hearn hosted in the garden of his Matchroom headquarters.
Courtenay has promised to bounce back. She secured a knockout win over Dorota Norek on her return and in April will compete for the vacant World Boxing Association World Female Bantamweight title in a rematch with Ball.