BoxRec

Maybe not fixed but it's quite clear the corner of his opponent had some sort of wager on this fight to end inside distance or in a certain round. He randomly threw his towel into the ring for literally no reason whatsoever. Ofotsu was in no trouble at all and actually having a decent round for the first time in the fight. Corner threw towel in. Ofotsu was so out on his feet he caught the towel on the way in with a look of disbelief. Atrocious.

I can't say that Ofotsu had a good round, but it was pretty uneventful with no significant shots landed. Ofotsu certainly wasn't in ANY trouble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzaFnJdeDT8

Wow that was bad!

There needs to be a serious enquiry into this. Although i believe the ref should have just overturned the corner retirement.

Fatsam wrote:There needs to be a serious enquiry into this. Although i believe the ref should have just overturned the corner retirement.

I don't think that's legal, is it?

I don't agree with the stoppage at all, as Watt said it was very disrespectful. But I don't think a ref can overturn a corner retirement.

Not sure to be honest i just remember seeing it happen in the katsidis earl fight. However i think for a corner to just be able to stop a fight as they please is an open invitation to corruption. They need to see if that cornerman is behind on his mortgage payments.

This is just beyond horrid. Stinks to
High hell.

punchoutsb wrote:

Fatsam wrote:There needs to be a serious enquiry into this. Although i believe the ref should have just overturned the corner retirement.

I don't think that's legal, is it?

I don't agree with the stoppage at all, as Watt said it was very disrespectful. But I don't think a ref can overturn a corner retirement.

A referee can ignore a towel and throw it back out. It rarely happens but has happened before, as mentioned earlier (I.e. Earl v Katsidis). A referee is under no obligation to accept the towel as a retirement by the corner. In fact I'm pretty sure Earl knocked Katsidis down in the same round after the referee (Mickey Vann) threw Earl's corner's towel back out, therefore the referee was vindicated.

The Law wrote:

punchoutsb wrote:

Fatsam wrote:There needs to be a serious enquiry into this. Although i believe the ref should have just overturned the corner retirement.

I don't think that's legal, is it?

I don't agree with the stoppage at all, as Watt said it was very disrespectful. But I don't think a ref can overturn a corner retirement.

A referee can ignore a towel and throw it back out. It rarely happens but has happened before, as mentioned earlier (I.e. Earl v Katsidis). A referee is under no obligation to accept the towel as a retirement by the corner. In fact I'm pretty sure Earl knocked Katisidis down in the same round after the referee (Mickey Vann) threw Earl's corner's towel back out, therefore the referee was vindicated.

Interesting. I don't think I have ever seen a fight where the towel was ignored.

Tanzio wrote:

The Law wrote:

punchoutsb wrote:
I don't think that's legal, is it?

I don't agree with the stoppage at all, as Watt said it was very disrespectful. But I don't think a ref can overturn a corner retirement.

A referee can ignore a towel and throw it back out. It rarely happens but has happened before, as mentioned earlier (I.e. Earl v Katsidis). A referee is under no obligation to accept the towel as a retirement by the corner. In fact I'm pretty sure Earl knocked Katisidis down in the same round after the referee (Mickey Vann) threw Earl's corner's towel back out, therefore the referee was vindicated.

Interesting. I don't think I have ever seen a fight where the towel was ignored.

It's rare because a ref is taking a huge risk by letting a fight continue after a corner has requested a retirement during a round. Imagine if the fighter gets seriously injured because of the ref's decision ...

The Law wrote: It's rare because a ref is taking a huge risk by letting a fight continue after a corner has requested a retirement during a round. Imagine if the fighter gets seriously injured because of the ref's decision ...

That is very interesting. If I threw in the towel and the ref ignored it then there would be a DQ...

punchoutsb wrote:

The Law wrote: It's rare because a ref is taking a huge risk by letting a fight continue after a corner has requested a retirement during a round. Imagine if the fighter gets seriously injured because of the ref's decision ...

That is very interesting. If I threw in the towel and the ref ignored it then there would be a DQ...

I wouldn't be surprised if the rules vary depending on the governing/sanctioning body in question.

Tanzio wrote:

The Law wrote:

punchoutsb wrote:
I don't think that's legal, is it?

I don't agree with the stoppage at all, as Watt said it was very disrespectful. But I don't think a ref can overturn a corner retirement.

A referee can ignore a towel and throw it back out. It rarely happens but has happened before, as mentioned earlier (I.e. Earl v Katsidis). A referee is under no obligation to accept the towel as a retirement by the corner. In fact I'm pretty sure Earl knocked Katisidis down in the same round after the referee (Mickey Vann) threw Earl's corner's towel back out, therefore the referee was vindicated.

Interesting. I don't think I have ever seen a fight where the towel was ignored.

I think I remember seeing Arthur Mercante Jr. doing that during a Yuri Foreman fight

It was a bad call by Mercante in my opinion, as Foreman's leg was clearly gone and he had taken quite a bit of punishment against a fighter who was already well ahead.

It's easy to be wise in hindsight, but to me the towel seemed a bit early in Mitchell-Earl, though had I been the ref I probably would've acknowledged the corner's decision to stop it.

It looked strange as the boxer actually 'caught' the towel. I don't think the bout was fixed, the corner saw he was getting outclassed and wasn't able to compete, they should have not sent him out for the next round. Burns was going through the gears and looked a lot stronger and more powerful.

As they say before a fight, it can only be stopped by the ref, it's the refs discretion whether to accept the towel or not, you don't often see it because the fighters usually being murdered before the towel is thrown in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA7--VzOCWE

7.30 onwards.

For what it's worth, I don't think the towel actually came from the corner in the Katsidis-Earl fight - after it flies in you can see in the top left of the TV footage Earl's trainer, towel still round his shoulders, gesturing to say "that wasn't from us". Who else brought a towel to a boxing event I have no idea but I think that is why the ref ignores it.

HyacinthusTurnipseed wrote:For what it's worth, I don't think the towel actually came from the corner in the Katsidis-Earl fight - after it flies in you can see in the top left of the TV footage Earl's trainer, towel still round his shoulders, gesturing to say "that wasn't from us". Who else brought a towel to a boxing event I have no idea but I think that is why the ref ignores it.

That's not Earl's trainer, Earl's trainer was Johnny Eames, he threw the towel.

HyacinthusTurnipseed wrote:For what it's worth, I don't think the towel actually came from the corner in the Katsidis-Earl fight - after it flies in you can see in the top left of the TV footage Earl's trainer, towel still round his shoulders, gesturing to say "that wasn't from us". Who else brought a towel to a boxing event I have no idea but I think that is why the ref ignores it.

I believe that's where the rule "only the referee can stop the fight" came from - to stop nefarious individuals from throwing a towel into the ring to make it look like a boxer's corner wanted to stop the fight.

SNG wrote:

HyacinthusTurnipseed wrote:For what it's worth, I don't think the towel actually came from the corner in the Katsidis-Earl fight - after it flies in you can see in the top left of the TV footage Earl's trainer, towel still round his shoulders, gesturing to say "that wasn't from us". Who else brought a towel to a boxing event I have no idea but I think that is why the ref ignores it.

That's not Earl's trainer, Earl's trainer was Johnny Eames, he threw the towel.

Had another look and you are right - the guy in the blue isn't part of the Earl corner, he is just standing at that end with a towel for some reason. I stand corrected.

in regards to the burns fight I think the ref was gonna throw the towel back but the Africans cornerman was almost through the ropes by then which would of DQ him anyway so ref just accepted it.

Cutman Scabbers wrote:

Tanzio wrote:

The Law wrote:
A referee can ignore a towel and throw it back out. It rarely happens but has happened before, as mentioned earlier (I.e. Earl v Katsidis). A referee is under no obligation to accept the towel as a retirement by the corner. In fact I'm pretty sure Earl knocked Katisidis down in the same round after the referee (Mickey Vann) threw Earl's corner's towel back out, therefore the referee was vindicated.

Interesting. I don't think I have ever seen a fight where the towel was ignored.

I think I remember seeing Arthur Mercante Jr. doing that during a Yuri Foreman fight

Thank you! I love it when someone unearths a memory for me.

Now I remember wondering why the fight was not stopped. Foreman had no real shot. Wasn't that the Cotto fight?

I didn't criticize the ref at the time because Foreman obviously wanted to continue and (while hobbled) was not taking too much punishment. It was a "title" fight after all.

some trainers are control freaks and use stopping the fight as a threat.
they say "if you don't do what i tell you i will stop the fight".
if the ref doesn't accept the towel retirement, then the boxer still
has to back to the corner between rounds and that could get ugly.
if there was only a round or two left, i might not even want that
trainer in my corner anymore. if i had to stand up between rounds
so be it. if a boxer is obviously not hurt it should be up to him and if
the trainer isn't working in the best interests of the boxer then that
trainer should have to explain himself in front of the board. i wouldn't
want that guy in my corner. they knew what kind of a matchup this was
when they took the fight, so unless they just intended to show up and
collect a check then ofotsu wanted to be there.

More often though the trainer is someone that has been with the boxer day in and day out for years and knows the ability and condition of the boxer as well or better than the fighter himself. I'd the boxer took the bout at short notice, wasn't a big puncher and was fighting a boxer who was 1 or 3 leagues above (as Burn's opponent was) then I'd have been tempted to stop the bout when it was clear he had no chance of winning and was shipping punishment. It's supposed to be a contest and the trainer has a responsibility for his fighter's health and safety - he's not there to make sure the boxer takes as much punishment for as long as possible. If I'd have been the trainer last night I'd have pulled the fighter out between rounds - exhorting the boxer to do more is no good if the boxer is out of his depth.