Technical Knockout

Mike Tyson TKO'ing Little Mac on the first round.

A technical knock-out (TKO) is a special term used in boxing, considered by the judges, when one boxer seems too wounded to continue.

In the Punch-Out!! games, a technical knockout occurs when the protagonist or his opponent is knocked down three times in a single round. If this happens, the referee will skip the usual count to ten and declare the match to be over. A TKO is the most common way to defeat an opponent in the Punch-Out!! games, as a normal knockout generally requires that the opponent be knocked down more than three times. Some opponents can only be beaten by TKO, such as Bald Bull in some of his appearances. In the arcade Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!!, TKOs are simply declared as knockouts, but the rules for them are effectively the same as in the console games.

In Punch-Out!! for the Wii, Little Mac can save himself from a TKO loss with the KO Recovery trick. If successfully executed, Mac will suddenly put his right foot down just as he is about to fall on his knees and yell angrily, then the fight will continue with Mac regaining half his health.