- Joined
- Mar 3, 2004
- Messages
- 1,802
- Reaction score
- 3,637
Heard an interesting interview with John Hackleman was in the Chuck lidell one on "the Lyte's out podcast which is now called MMA History podcast I think).
Hackleman talked about hating to be a cornerman. Guy is a world class trainer of perhaps the biggest icon in the sport and a second world champion in Glover but said he was a bad corner because he would throw in the towel too early when one of his fighters was hurt.
He knew he was taking his fighter's chance away from winning and that killed him. He knew from their hard training they were durable guy's, aware of the risks, wanted every chance he could give them to win, etc. but his love of his fighters would overcome him and he'd rather throw it in too soon then regret seeming them take unnecessary damage.
Talked about other corners throwing the towel into the crowd as a show of bravado, and how stupid that is.
He said the early UFC refs knew he had a tendency to stop fights before they went too far and would encourage the other corner's to be willing to do it like Hackleman.
Told a pretty funny story about being at a regional kickboxing bout where some kid was getting crushed...he got so emotional he screamed "Stop the Fight" and the ref did, which lead to great confusion because the kid wasn't his fighter, and eventually they figured out they shouldn't have stopped it, started it back up, and the kid he was trying to protect came back and won.
Later in his career he would only corner guys like Glover if they begged him to do it and would warn them that he might stop the fight too early.
Cliffs-
Cornering is hard as fuck if you care about your fighters.
Being a great trainer who has also fought full contact contests doesn't automatically make you a great cornerman.
Toasty would have wanted Hackleman in his corner when he got the shit beat out of him in 5th grade gym class, that lopsided fight went on way too long in my humble opinion
Edit-
I guess I'd be really interested in hearing from fighters here what kind of cornerman they'd want?
and/or if they've ever been in a match that should have been stopped by either their corner or the other guy's
and/or If they've had a corner throw in the towel, how that effected their training relationship going forward.
Or if anyone has cornered people and had to make this choice live in the heat of the battle?
@DoctorTaco you want to come and hit me with the paddles to save my dying thread?
Etc.
Hackleman talked about hating to be a cornerman. Guy is a world class trainer of perhaps the biggest icon in the sport and a second world champion in Glover but said he was a bad corner because he would throw in the towel too early when one of his fighters was hurt.
He knew he was taking his fighter's chance away from winning and that killed him. He knew from their hard training they were durable guy's, aware of the risks, wanted every chance he could give them to win, etc. but his love of his fighters would overcome him and he'd rather throw it in too soon then regret seeming them take unnecessary damage.
Talked about other corners throwing the towel into the crowd as a show of bravado, and how stupid that is.
He said the early UFC refs knew he had a tendency to stop fights before they went too far and would encourage the other corner's to be willing to do it like Hackleman.
Told a pretty funny story about being at a regional kickboxing bout where some kid was getting crushed...he got so emotional he screamed "Stop the Fight" and the ref did, which lead to great confusion because the kid wasn't his fighter, and eventually they figured out they shouldn't have stopped it, started it back up, and the kid he was trying to protect came back and won.
Later in his career he would only corner guys like Glover if they begged him to do it and would warn them that he might stop the fight too early.
Cliffs-
Cornering is hard as fuck if you care about your fighters.
Being a great trainer who has also fought full contact contests doesn't automatically make you a great cornerman.
Toasty would have wanted Hackleman in his corner when he got the shit beat out of him in 5th grade gym class, that lopsided fight went on way too long in my humble opinion
Edit-
I guess I'd be really interested in hearing from fighters here what kind of cornerman they'd want?
and/or if they've ever been in a match that should have been stopped by either their corner or the other guy's
and/or If they've had a corner throw in the towel, how that effected their training relationship going forward.
Or if anyone has cornered people and had to make this choice live in the heat of the battle?
@DoctorTaco you want to come and hit me with the paddles to save my dying thread?
Etc.
Last edited: