First time Brandon Grach knocked a man out, he was 13.

A schoolboy.

But his rival?

“Guy was just out of prison,” grins the rookie Australian heavyweight who, now officially, owns the nation’s greatest knockout of 2023.

A thundering left hook that bettered even the Tszyu boys.

Which is how it has long gone for a fella finishing rivals since he was early days of high school.

“He was in his 30s, too,” Grach continues of that first KO.

“Weighed 15 kilos heavier and came out swinging wild bombs.”

All of which, for a round, and already fighting at light heavyweight, the promising schoolboy took.

“Then,” he grins, “I went out for the second, dropped him a couple of times and finished it”.

After disappearing from the Australian boxing scene for 10 years, Grach is suddenly back in every sense – as this year’s winner of ‘KO of the Year’.

After a huge 12 months for a host of Aussie boxers, the Fox Sports/No Limit Boxing Awards were announced at Sydney’s The Star.

Unsurprisingly, WBO world champ Tim Tszyu was crowned No Limit ‘Fighter of the Year’.

While as for younger brother Nikita, he now owns a ‘Fight of the Year’ gong thanks to his gutsy comeback against Australia’s youngest champion, Dylan Biggs.

Despite being dropped in the first round of his national title fight, and then rocked in the third, the younger Tszyu eventually needed just five rounds to finish it.

But Grach?

Fighting earlier the same night, he dropped Australia’s most avoided heavyweight Liam Talivaa with a left hook as brutal as it was unforgettable.

A punch fans have since voted best of hot field that included both Tszyu boys, Talivaa and colourful bantamweight Mark ‘Magic Man’ Schleibs.

So as for where the bloody hell he has come from?

A promising amateur who won four Australian titles by the time he was 18, Grach was then torn between turning pro or having a crack at the Olympics.

Instead, he disappeared for a break.

“And that break,” he says, “turned into a decade”.

Apart from working as a ringer and spending time as a army rifleman, the Newcastle tough also earned himself an architecture degree.

And now, he’s back in boxing.

After winning his professional debut in September against Johan Linde, ‘The Bull’ then doubled down two months later to rock the Aussie boxing landscape.

Asked about the award-winning hook on Talivaa, he tells Fox Sports Australia: “I could see he was coming in with his hands down.

“And if you’re going to come in with your hands down, both sides of your chin are open.

“So one, two will stun you and the left hook knocks you out.

“And that’s pretty much my favourite combination, too … boom, boom, boom and down they go.

“Feels good”.

Incredibly, Grach was initially dropped in the first round himself of what was a short, but cracking fight.

“Wasn’t a big knockdown though,” he stressed.

“He got me a couple of punches on top of the head that I didn’t really see and, yeah, my glove touched the ground.

“So it was a knockdown.

“But I thought ‘there’s no way you are keeping me down’.

“I thought ‘I’m going to finish this off’ … and I took care of business.”

Elsewhere in the boxing awards, Ben Horn won upset of the year for his shock win over a previously unbeaten Joel Taylor – which had him paying $14 with the bookies.

Gunnedah coalminer Albert Nolan also won ‘Round of the Year’ for his own unforgettable barnburner – and specifically, the fifth – which led to his upset win over Vegas Larfield.

An effort so good it also saw Nolan nominated for both the Upset and Fight of the Year categories, and has him looking for big opportunities in 2024.

Same deal Grach.

“I really don’t believe in limits,” he said when asked about what should be expected following his extended hiatus.

“I want to take this as far as I can.

“And I’m well accustomed to taking big challenges.

“I was always a big kid so I’ve been fighting grown men, guys who have come out of jail, all sorts of people, since I was 13.

“I believe in myself.”