The Importance of a Boxing Corner Man

Series Summary

Boxing is a combat sport in which two participants of similar weight fight each other using only their fists. Boxing today is conducted in a regulated way, usually in a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. A winner is determined if the opponent is knocked down and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten, or if the opponent is deemed too injured to continue. If there is no stoppage of the fight before an agreed number of rounds, a winner is determined either by the referee's decision or by the scorecards of judges.

In professional boxing certainly, but also in most forms of competitive boxing, the boxer employs several coaches to help him in his corner between rounds. The objective of the corner men, outside of general training, is to provide support, give advice, and treat a boxer's injuries throughout the course of a fight or bout. In this free video series, a boxing coach and expert will teach you how to be a boxing corner man, from what equipment you should have on hand to working with other coaches, praising a boxer, pointing out major concerns, and treating cuts. You'll also learn how to prepare a boxer for the dynamic shift between fighting and relaxation, as well as other psychological and medical techniques!

Video Transcript

"In this segment and the following clip, I'm going to try to tell you in detail how to actually properly work a boxer's corner. It's only a minute, and maybe a total of a six-minute fight, 3 two-minute rounds. You may only have that one minute, but it could be the most important minute for that whole fight. Sometimes a fight is won in the corner. If I tell the boxer to do exactly the right things and he does them, there's a good chance that he'll win. But more importantly is sometimes the fight is lost in the corner. The boxer can be fighting his heart out, he can be doing everything exactly the way you want him to be doing, but if you mess up in the corner, if you're not properly working your boxer's corner for whatever reason, he could actually lose the fight. So we're also going to be talking about what you should be having with you in the corner before the boxer gets there - you have your tote ready, you're going to be having your corner man's jacket with all your pockets full so that when he gets there, he sits down, you have everything organized, and you're able to work that one minute in between rounds. Thank you."