BoxRec

Just watched the old 1931 film THE CHAMP and noticed that before the big fight both fighters and cornermen were brought to the center of the ring where a coin was flipped. After the flip, each fighter was directed to a certain corner.

Now I know "it's only a movie," but I was wondering if that practice was real. I've never seen it in any old fights I have. Were corners in the early 1930s determined by a coin flip?

Actually that’s a good question, though I have no definitive answer, but I would bet that a coin toss has came into to play for that very reason on a number of occasion throughout history! There's nothing silly about it if a fighter is superstitious, which throughout boxing history there have been a lot of superstitious fighters and if a person won his first bout in a certain corner he could be superstitious about that corner and instead of a certain fighter being able to always say what corner he wanted a coin flip would seem to be fair and very sensible, which anyone who has ever competed in a number of sports knows anything to keep things even for one another…even if it is something superstitious, well each competitor will do whatever he can to make the “field” even. I have played in several various sports and pretty much in every sport a coin toss can be implemented unless there are certain rules where one would not be needed, but as I said, a coin toss has been relevant in most other sports.

..i've never heard of it....never read of it...


..however....i can see a coin toss coming into play in the days when fighters fought in the daytime....outdoors....under the sun. a corner facing the sun could be a disadvantage.....so maybe.....

(more contemporary.....it's a well known story that archie moore moved nino valdez around so nino had the sun in his eyes when they had their daytime outdoor battle.)

>>>..however....i can see a coin toss coming into play in the days when fighters fought in the daytime....outdoors....under the sun. a corner facing the sun could be a disadvantage.....so maybe.....<<<

Now that would seem very logical and probable as a lot of bouts were held outdoors in the first half of the century...especially pre-1940, but I cannot recall ever reading anything about it either, but then again I have never really focused, or paid any attention to a coin toss.

In title fights in Europe two sets of gloves were brought into the ring. A coin was tossed to decide who was to have each set of gloves, then the fighters were gloved up. This happened well into the seventies I belive.

Woller

Woller wrote:In title fights in Europe two sets of gloves were brought into the ring. A coin was tossed to decide who was to have each set of gloves, then the fighters were gloved up.

This is interesting. In this 1931 film, when the fighters enter the ring the gloves are just piled up in the center of the ring. Each fighter goes over to the pile and takes a pair, then the coin toss occurs and the fighters are directed to their corners.

Thanks for the answers so far. I don't think the coin toss was invented just for the movie. Some fights in the late twenties/early thirties must have had a coin toss to decide corners. The film takes place in California near the Mexican border. Maybe that's the way it was done there.

And yes the fight in this film takes place in an outdoor arena (although at night). So maybe the idea that outdoor fights would require a coin toss to determine who gets which corner is plausible.

I seem to recall guys in one changing room from one corner and vice versa.
Blue corner one locker room . Red in the other.
I could be wrong . Point is ,the corners were pre detirmined.But the outdoor situation makes perfect sense.It might not make that big of a deal during the fight with the fighters moving around , but in between rounds sitting facing the sun would be a REAL drag.

In modern day contracts is this an issue that is negotiated out? The more prestigious boxer getting his way? Damn I've never given this a single thought. Makes me want to ask about the tightness of ropes, and the materials of the deck and if that is regulated or negotiated. I know the size of the ring is always in play correct?

I remember being in the changing room with alot of guys on a card who came in second place that evening and it was like being in a M.a.s.h unit.

Buzz---All of those things you mentioned come into play. Like tight ropes, or not tight ropes. If Ali would have had a ring with tight ropes whenh he fought Foreman then he would have fought a different fight than he did. Hell, anything that a person feels might give him, or his fighter even the slightest of an edge then you can bet your ass that it is well thought out and planned.