Olympics: Rio KO leaves super-heavy boxer out cold

Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov knocks out Venezuela’s Edgar Ramon Munoz during a men’s super heavyweight over 91-kg preliminary boxing match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. In another super heavyweight fight, Nigerian Efe Ajagba toppled Nigel Paul of Trinidad and Tobago who was out cold for several seconds after getting a right hook in the first round. AP

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Super-heavyweight Efe Ajagba left his opponent sprawled on the floor and initially unconscious Saturday after the Nigerian big man delivered the most emphatic knock-out of the Rio Olympic boxing.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Nigel Paul was toppled by a devastating right hook in the first round that left him out cold for a few seconds, as doctors and officials clambered through the ropes and rushed to his motionless body in the center of the ring.

Relief however coursed throughout the 9,000-seat arena when Paul, 27, began to gingerly climb to his feet and staggered back to his corner with support, where he slumped in his stool.

He earned the biggest cheer of the night when it was apparent that he had recovered enough to stand in the ring for the official declaration signaling that his Olympics had come to a savage end.