I've been thinking of ways to improve the sport of boxing and one of the ideas I have come up with is the black towel. We all know the corner can stop the fight by throwing in a towel, usually white, into the ring. However, what if the corner decides their fighter needs a break, but does not want to permanently stop the fight? Here comes the black towel. If a fighter is taking too much punishment, perhaps at the start of the round, the corner can lob a black towel at the ref which will instantly stop the round and award the other fighter a 10-8. However the fight will resume after a normal one minute break. I realize this is a genius innovation but perhaps it would be safer to implement it gradually, starting with local cards, maybe 4 or 6 rounders. Also the towel is black just to be more identifiable compared to the usual white towel, it can be any color. I have thought about hot pink and maybe stripes, but many people still prefer "formality" and other somber concepts in boxing. Thoughts?
Ok ill bite. How many times can you throw the towel? Once? Twice? Every round? When do you know to throw the towel? Will it be any time a fighter gets stunned and is taking shots? We've seen this only to see a fighter come back and win the round. This doesnt really seem like much of a solution as the fighter would still be taking punishment anyway.
If one guy is dominating every single round and is about to get knocked out in round 12 the black towel would win him the fight. People would not be happy about situations like that. There would never be a knockout through combination punches either as the black towel can stop every onslaught? Only one punch knockouts would do it.
I haven't decided yet but I think two, maybe three black towels will suffice in a 12 rounder. Also this would force many sloppy finishers to get their act together and sharpen up their knockout abilities
Can you imagine Sergio Martínez vs Julio César Chávez Jr..... What a black towel fight that would have been.
A fighter should be saved by his corner. Corner tosses in a time out guy goes out and gets hurt bad or dies. Maybe the first instinct to stop a guy is the right one
If you can't finish the round because of how much punishment you are taking you have no business going back out there for any more
I propose a new rule to boxing. The green towel. This towel can be thrown in any round where action falls below a certain threshold. When this towel is thrown the round is extended for one minute and at the end of the round whichever fighter has a lower punch output is deducted one point. Currently in the process of creating a gofundme. Will edit later so everyone can donate.
A sustained beating is worse than quickly getting knocked out in most cases. The black towel idea extends the beatings and doesn't make it any safer.
