Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis - and the first ever to do it in the four-belt era - with his split decision victory over Tyson Fury in Saudi back in May.
They do it all again on Saturday, live on DAZN Pay-Per-View, in what is arguably the most significant fight of the 21st Century.
Their first encounter was an exciting, engrossing spectacle, with the action swinging one way and then the other. Yet one of the main talking points in the immediate aftermath of that historic night in May was the corner work of the respective teams.
Like the man himself, Usyk’s corner was cool, calm, and collected. Anatoly Lomachenko and Sergey Lapin were unflappable – even when the fight looked to be ebbing away from their man between rounds five and seven - while old school cut man Russ Anber brought a calmness to proceedings.
On the opposite side of the ring, to say Fury’s corner was chaotic would be an understatement, especially in the second half of the fight.
‘The Gypsy King’ had head coach SugarHill Steward, assistant trainer Andy Lee and Fury’s dad ‘Big’ John barking instructions in a crowded corner with him.
Time after time the TV cameras picked up all three men talking at the same time, and on occasion the advice was conflicting.
At the very highest level in these type of championship contests, we are talking about such fine margins having an impact on the outcome, so who knows what the result might have been if Fury had one calm but authoritative voice to listen to in those precious 60 seconds between rounds?
What is not up for debate is the fact that Fury cannot afford the same level of corner chaos this time around in Riyadh.
The best corners can calmly read and analyse a fight and provide strategic advice between rounds, helping their fighter adjust their game plan if needed.
They should also be able to motivate too. Few were better motivators than Teddy Atlas, who paid his dues under the inimitable Cus D’Amato and helped mould a young Mike Tyson in the early 1980s.
Atlas delivered arguably the most exhilarating between rounds speech in the history of the noble art during Timothy Bradley’s WBO world welterweight title defence against Brandon Rios in 2015 when he said to Bradley:
“Look the fire’s coming. 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.”
That heartfelt monologue clearly worked, as not long afterwards Bradly stopped Rios via TKO to defend his world title amid pure scenes at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Blowing it, bad advice, and latex gloves
Then there is the famous riposte from Angelo Dundee in the corner for Sugar Ray Leonard - on a sweltering night under the Las Vegas stars – during Sugar Ray’s undisputed welterweight championship fight with Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns.
In a classic encounter that ebbed and flowed, Leonard sat on his stool before the start of the thirteenth, left eye closing and looking a little forlorn, before Dundee drew breath and bellowed “You‘re blowing it now son. You‘re blowing it.”
Behind on the cards, Leonard would go out and knock Hearns down twice in the thirteenth before stopping him in the penultimate stanza.
And while an organised and/or inspirational corner can be the back story to a fighter winning, the reverse is also often true.
When Mike Tyson lost to James ‘Buster’ Douglas in February 1990 it was the biggest shock in heavyweight boxing bar none.
We know now that Tyson’s life was totally out of control by that point, but a lot of the finger pointing post-fight was aimed at Aaron Snowell, a young, inexperienced, and introverted trainer who had replaced Kevin Rooney as Iron Mike’s head coach.
Despite never fighting professionally or training anyone else of note himself to that point, Snowell was not a complete boxing neophyte, but his fate as the fall guy was sealed when he failed to pack an endswell or ice pack - standard equipment for any fight corner.
He tried to improvise by filling a latex glove with ice water and holding it on Tyson's rapidly swelling left eye between rounds before the end came.
The wily old D’Amato would have likely turned in his grave watching someone holding a latex glove to the injured eye of his protégé, and it is crazy to think that actually even happened in a world heavyweight title fight being watched by millions around the world.
In more recent times Anthony Joshua's coach Ben Davison took pelters earlier this year for his advice in the moments before AJ went back out for what proved to be the decisive fifth round against Daniel Dubois at Wembley in their IBF heavyweight title dust-up.
The two-time heavyweight champion had been dropped heavily in the opening round by a vicious Dubois right hand, before hitting the deck again in the third and fourth as Dubois took charge.
However, there were signs that AJ had weathered the storm and he was certainly firing back in the fourth before him and Davison adjourned to the corner.
“If there’s a bit of a lull, in behind that double jab, bring it up. Roll the dice. He’ll duck under the right hand, lift it yeah?” Davison said between rounds.
Joshua rallied in the fifth with a huge overhand right that caught Dubois clean but was then cleaned out himself by a short right hand soon after. So much for rolling the dice.
- Read next | Usyk vs Fury 2: Are Tyson Fury's world title hopes over forever if he loses? Boxing experts have their say
Hearts in the furnace, heads in the freezer
Trainers must call it as they see it during a fight, it is what they are paid to do, and criticism at elite level is to be expected, for as the old saying goes only mediocrity is safe from ridicule. Yet at least AJ’s corner had one voice at Wembley.
Fury’s corner really was bedlam, and while Tyson himself seemed to be trying his best to accommodate everyone by listening, he must have been confused as ‘Big’ John and SugarHill shouted over each other.
In the last two rounds in particular, it was interesting that both Andy Lee and John Fury seemed to be alluding between rounds that Fury had the fight won and all he needed to do was play it safe, while SugarHill was clearly asking for more urgency from his charge and to throw punches with more spite.
Too many cooks spoil the broth was a 16th century proverb meaning in essence that if too many people are involved in a task or activity, it will not be done well.
Legacies are on the line on December 21. For Fury’s sake, let’s hope there is a bit more decorum in his corner this time round.
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