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Another life story often told in the ring is that of two aspiring pros seeking to make their way in the sport by having to go through the other. The winner earns the privilege of moving to the next step with his self-generated aura of invincibility intact while the other must pick up the pieces and begin again, this time with the scarlet letter of defeat – L – forever burnished on his record.

That was the tale that faced John Revish and Leo Lizarraga on April 2, 2004 at the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson, Ariz., where they met in a four-round welterweight bout that kicked off an ESPN "Friday Night Fights" telecast topped by Emanuel Augustus and Alex Trujillo. Revish was just 36 days removed from his professional debut, a one-round knockout over David Love in New Orleans while Lizarraga was a more seasoned 4-0 (3 KO), and his last victory was a two-round TKO over Robert Manore in Phoenix the previous December.

Another subplot surrounding this fight was that of hometown hero versus invading outsider, and on this night it was the 24-year-old Lizarraga, who resided in nearby Chandler, Ariz., who was the crowd favorite. It was a situation with which he was familiar, since he had never fought outside Arizona as a pro. The "outsider" was the 20-year-old Revish, a sophomore psychology major at Louisiana State University who toyed with the idea of walking onto the highly touted football program following a successful high school career. But now his athletic focus was on boxing in general – and on Lizarraga in particular.

The 5-8 Revish, 147, started the bout on the move behind his jab, but the one-inch taller Lizarraga, 146, beat him to the punch with a heavier jab and a follow-up hook that briefly knocked an off-balance Revish to the ropes. Revish pivoted away smartly, but his nervousness came to the surface as he shifted right, launched a hook and slipped to the canvas as he threw that hook. Revish scrambled to his feet, but as Revish launched another hook Lizarraga again demonstrated his quicker trigger by smashing a right cross-left hook combo. Lizarraga pushed Revish back with the jab and after Revish reset his feet he landed a right-left to the body and a right to the jaw. But as Revish’s right connected, Lizarraga exploded a hook that wobbled Revish and followed with a wicked right-left hook that put the visitor flat on his back.

Though Revish appeared to be faster, Lizarraga debunked that myth in the very first minute of battle. Boxing is just as much about timing as it is about raw physical gifts. Shorter fighters have out-jabbed much taller and long-armed men because they knew when to throw it. Such was the case when the 5-11 Mike Tyson fought the 6-5 Tony Tucker, and it was that jab that led "Iron Mike" out of early-fight difficulties en route to a title-unifying unanimous decision. Now, on a much smaller scale, the truism of timing again was manifesting itself.

Revish immediately regained his feet, backed toward the farthest neutral corner and bounced lightly on his toes as referee Roger Yanez completed the mandatory eight-count. Sensing the end was near, Lizarraga tore after Revish, backing him to the ropes with a left hook but missed wildly with another one as Revish retreated. Revish motored around the ring at full speed in both directions and flashed his hands in multi-punch bursts. But the intent of his punches was rooted more in survival than in scoring, and Lizarraga soon caught Revish with a straight right to the stomach. Lizarraga then whiffed on a home-run hook that brought an ominous "ooh" from the crowd.

Both men were fighting with anxiety – Revish’s was that of a man trying mightily to hold off a rampaging adversary while Lizarraga’s a wildness borne of a desire to put his opponent away impressively before a supportive crowd. Their mutual, but conflicting, goals produced sloppy but exciting action. Lizarraga missed with another huge hook, and as Revish grabbed his waist he uncorked a hard right to Revish’s exposed ribs.

With 1:16 remaining, Revish ducked under a looping right and slid hard to his left to get out of the corner. As he was doing so, Lizarraga cut loose with an overhand hook to the head that sent Revish down for the second time, skidding several feet to a stop along the ropes. Again, Revish hastily regained his feet, turned his back and marched toward the farthest corner to put as much space between him and Lizarraga as possible. After completing the count, Yanez pointed a cautioning finger at Revish and told him, "protect yourself or I’m going to stop the fight, OK?" After nodding his assent, Yanez commanded "let’s go."

Although the three-knockdown rule was not in effect, it is generally understood that referees will stop fights if a boxer is floored three times in a round because the upright boxer had demonstrated his superiority beyond a reasonable doubt. Rarely has a boxer come back from multiple knockdowns in a round, and those that do are accorded places in ring lore, especially if they do so in high-visibility championship contests. Diego Corrales immortalized himself by twice climbing off the deck to stop Jose Luis Castillo in their first fight, and that fantastic finish elevated their toe-to-toe slugfest to an exalted place on many historians’ lists. Now, on a lowly undercard bout, Revish was in much the same situation, but his mindset was not one of executing a fantastic rally but of surviving the final minute without hitting the floor again.

Lizarraga went all out for the finish, but his punches mostly flew over Revish’s head. Revish beat Lizarraga in an exchange of rights before sliding to his right around the perimeter of the ring. Revish tried to shoe shine a combination to the head, but Lizarraga blasted another pair of hooks to the jaw. The fight appeared to be moments from ending as Lizarraga lined up Revish for one final shot.

With Revish trapped on the ropes, Lizarraga deked with his left shoulder and launched a big looping right. But Revish saw it coming, and he bent his knees to duck underneath it. As Lizarraga commenced a hook to the body, Revish sprang up from his crouch with a dynamite hook that landed perfectly on the point of the chin and sent Lizarraga sprawling to the canvas. A badly dazed Lizarraga rolled onto his left side with a glazed look as Yanez administered the count. His spirit commanded him to rise, but Revish’s punch had numbed Lizarraga’s nerves to the point that they couldn’t respond. Yanez counted "ten" and declared the fight over with just 20 seconds remaining in the opening round. As Revish celebrated with his corner, all Lizarraga could do was sit, shake his head and smile ruefully about what could have been.

It was an amazing turn of events. Up until that point Revish had only landed three power shots, but the fourth turned out to be all he needed to convert almost certain defeat into shocking triumph. According to ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas, the seeds of Lizarraga’s defeat were sewn when he chose to pursue Revish with no regard for strategy. He didn’t set up any punches with the jab or work the body in a systematic way. Instead, the temerity of youth commanded him to adopt a buzzsaw attack with no rhyme or reason, and his wildness yielded the one opening Revish needed to instantaneously change his fortunes.

On this night, Revish invaded hostile territory and emerged with the spoils of victory, and in the process he shaped the story to a form that was more to his liking. Instead of the hometown hero bowling over the visitor, Revish crafted a tale of upset-minded upstart overcoming early adversity to post a spectacular one-punch knockout before a nationwide television audience.

Both men would go on to write other chapters in their careers, but on this night they authored a violently timeless masterpiece.

Epilogue: As it turned out, Lizarraga would only fight twice more – and neither fight resulted in victory. Nearly four months after losing to Revish, Lizarraga fought a four round draw with Jonathan Ochoa in Glendale, Ariz. The 24-year-old Lizarraga then fought his final pro fight on January 7, 2005 at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, where he lost by three round disqualification to Juan Pablo Montes de Oca. His final record stands at 4-3-1 with three knockouts.