When he was a high schooler, no older than 14 or 15, Randall Bailey knew there was something different about his punching power. After his amateur fights, which he’d often win by knockout, the officials would take him from the ring to the backroom to inspect his hand wraps and gloves to make sure there was nothing illegal in them.
Underneath the wraps, they’d find nothing but bone and skin.
The Miami resident wasn’t called the Knockout King because it rolled off the tongue. During a 20-year career, which spanned 1996 to 2016, Bailey was one of the sport’s hardest punchers pound-for-pound, scoring 39 knockouts in his 46 wins, against 9 defeats, while winning the WBO junior welterweight and IBF welterweight titles.
“Randall has the unusual one punch knockout power that can end a fight in a moment’s notice,” said Joe Quiambao, the matchmaker who worked with Bailey during his time at DiBella Entertainment.
While much of his power was innate, Bailey says one move, taught to him by Tommy Brooks when he came down to Miami to train Freddie Pendleton for the Tracy Spann rematch in 1993, that helped him maximize his power.
“Tommy pulled me to the side and said I want you to practice this one little step that he showed me, and this is gonna increase your power ten times over,” remembered Bailey. He practiced it every day, and studied tapes of Evander Holyfield, who did the same move, often while bouncing on his toes: back foot, hip and right hand, all twisting at the exact same moment.
“As far as body strength, I’m not in the gym lifting weights. I just think my power comes from the way I use my body rotation into my punches. The turning of the hip and twisting of the punches, that’s bringing all of my power behind my punches,” said Bailey.
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