BoxRec

After all the flak after the weekend with Wardley’s cornermen not stopping it earlier what other examples are there where fighters were let down by their corner.

Ali vs Holmes an obvious one, what are some others?

Fury v Uysk 1 was a mess

"Just stick your arms out like this here. That stops everything"

Hasim Rahman's corner during the Lennox Lewis rematch giving him the advice he was following at the moment he was KO'd

Denis Lebedev's corner against Guillermo Jones, his face was a complete mess but they sent him out round 11.
Davey Moore being sent out for the 8th round against Duran, he'd just been floored heavily in the 7th and his face was a mess.
Bazan getting told by his corner to "Smash him" when getting hammered by Cotto, even Bazan laughed at that one.
You could say Lou Duva saying "Stay Close" to Chavez going into the 12th round and "he had to win it" , screaming on ring apron on knockdown, did Taylor look at Lou instead on the ref then?
Plus any advice ever by Teddy Atlas in a corner at any moment

Teddy's advice always seems to be."Why don't ya get out there and do it? You want me to do it? Because I'll do it" and then more of that next round.

Larry Holmes vs Tex Cobb
Tex's corner should of thrown in the towel and the referee should have stopped the fight.
I mean Larry was asking the ref to stop it

tiny_acres wrote: ↑13 May 2026, 23:04 Larry Holmes vs Tex Cobb
Tex's corner should of thrown in the towel and the referee should have stopped the fight.
I mean Larry was asking the ref to stop it

Shocking that lasted 15 rounds, he was getting beat up from the start

Nick Blackwell's corner against Eubank Jr ?

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:10 Nick Blackwell's corner against Eubank Jr ?

Even Sr. knew something was up..

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:11

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:10 Nick Blackwell's corner against Eubank Jr ?

Even Sr. knew something was up..

"BODY ONLY " was the call if I remember correctly

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 12:13

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:11

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:10 Nick Blackwell's corner against Eubank Jr ?

Even Sr. knew something was up..

"BODY ONLY " was the call if I remember correctly

Yes. Can’t forget those two words.

Tyson’s corner didn’t have an enswell for the Douglas fight.

Could probably argue Lacy’s corner basically made sure he’d never be the same fighter again by not pulling him out in the later rounds of the Calzaghe fight. Can distinctly remember promoter Gary Shaw at ringside constantly signalling to them to stop the fight but they wouldn’t do it.

And on a slightly different tangent of poor cornerwork, who can forget Boxercise Ben giving AJ instructions in the Dubois fight which Shane McGuigan instantly called out on 5 Live as being dangerous advice, then in the very next round AJ getting knocked out whilst trying to follow it

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:10 Nick Blackwell's corner against Eubank Jr ?

was going to say this one. just had a look at what Blackwell is up to now and saw an interview from last year where he's speaking a lot faster than the last time I saw, but he's registered sight-impaired and has a lot of issues to deal with still. I was willing for that fight to be stopped once his eye started swelling up like that - never a good sign!

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 12:17

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 12:13

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 06:11

Even Sr. knew something was up..

"BODY ONLY " was the call if I remember correctly

Yes. Can’t forget those two words.

My take on that was Snr told him to go to the body as he wasn't getting anywhere to the head

I seem to remember Lennox Lewis's corner in the first McCall fight telling him to 'forget everything I've taught you, just go out there and knock him out ' or something very similar, he then got flattened

paultom wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 14:43 I seem to remember Lennox Lewis's corner in the first McCall fight telling him to 'forget everything I've taught you, just go out there and knock him out ' or something very similar, he then got flattened

I've watched that knockout back a few times and a part of me says British Stoppage (although not in UK I think) or am I totally off?

He stumbles slightly into the ref but then explodes in protest when stopped.

Could just be the masochist in me, but Lennox would have fought on til the fattest of ladies sang

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 14:54

paultom wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 14:43 I seem to remember Lennox Lewis's corner in the first McCall fight telling him to 'forget everything I've taught you, just go out there and knock him out ' or something very similar, he then got flattened

I've watched that knockout back a few times and a part of me says British Stoppage (although not in UK I think) or am I totally off?

He stumbles slightly into the ref but then explodes in protest when stopped.

Could just be the masochist in me, but Lennox would have fought on til the fattest of ladies sang

It was in London, yes he was staggering a bit but I think he should have had the chance to carry on, lots of champions have recovered from worse.

I can’t think of anything other than funny ones, sorry, but most of these aren’t exactly great advice.

Teo Lopez’s dad using the N-word mid-rant when referring to the opponent, Masayoshi Nakatani.

Enzo Calzaghe and Joe after R1 of the Lacy fight, “he’s shit!”
“I know he’s fuckin shit!”

There was an American cruiser, I think his name was Brian Flores, but I don’t even remember which fight. I do remember between rounds his corner man says “you need to start cutting the ring off” and he goes
“How do I do that?”

I’ll have a think for more

John Ruiz just being shouted it.

Frank Maloney, sending out Paul Ingle for the last round in his last fight.

Michael Watson’s corner sending him out concussed against Eubank.

McClellan is the obvious one.

Nathan Cleverly vs Kovalev I thought was pretty shocking. ‘Come on Nath’ and throwing his hands up in a ‘making a guard’ gesture.

Delta Jay wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 16:18 I can’t think of anything other than funny ones, sorry, but most of these aren’t exactly great advice.

Teo Lopez’s dad using the N-word mid-rant when referring to the opponent, Masayoshi Nakatani.

Enzo Calzaghe and Joe after R1 of the Lacy fight, “he’s shit!”
“I know he’s fuckin shit!”

There was an American cruiser, I think his name was Brian Flores, but I don’t even remember which fight. I do remember between rounds his corner man says “you need to start cutting the ring off” and he goes
“How do I do that?”

I’ll have a think for more

One of my favourite funny/cringe corner moments was when Teddy Atlas spent the full minute shouting a clearly pre-prepared speech to an extremely confused looking Tim Bradley. According to a quick web search, it was:

“Are you ready for the fire? We are firemen. WE ARE FIREMEN! The heat doesn't bother us. We live in the heat. We train in the heat. It tells us that we're ready, we're at home, we're where we're supposed to be. Flames don't intimidate us. What do we do? We control the flame. We control them. We move the flames where we want to. And then we extinguish them."

paultom wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 15:04

forcefraser wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 14:54

paultom wrote: ↑14 May 2026, 14:43 I seem to remember Lennox Lewis's corner in the first McCall fight telling him to 'forget everything I've taught you, just go out there and knock him out ' or something very similar, he then got flattened

I've watched that knockout back a few times and a part of me says British Stoppage (although not in UK I think) or am I totally off?

He stumbles slightly into the ref but then explodes in protest when stopped.

Could just be the masochist in me, but Lennox would have fought on til the fattest of ladies sang

It was in London, yes he was staggering a bit but I think he should have had the chance to carry on, lots of champions have recovered from worse.

Im a firm believer that a fighter should be fit to continue at the end of the count. When the ref had completed the count, Lewis was staggering into the ref.

Fair stoppage.

I wouldn’t have a problem saying Fury should have been stopped against Wilder.

Bit of an obvious one, but whoever was in Shannon Briggs' corner when he fought Vitali Klitschko. That was sickening from about the fourth round, and the poor bastard lost most of his wages in German hospital bills.