It’s a knockout

Marc Aspland on one of his most memorable sporting shots

“After spending a great deal of time charting the career path of boxer Ricky Hatton, we had become great friends. His career led to a huge fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas, late in 2007. I was crammed under the neutral corner in my ringside photo position. In Round 10, Mayweather felled Ricky like an oak tree. The back of his head bounced off the canvas about 12 inches from my camera. I was screaming at the top of my voice, ‘Get up Ricky, just get up!’ During the mayhem, I shoved my camera through the ropes at arm’s length, directly above Ricky’s face. I must have pressed the shutter release and this single frame of referee Joe Cortez removing Ricky’s gum-shield was captured. Ricky’s life took a different direction after this moment. Thankfully we are still friends.”