An injured Anthony Yarde looks on from his corner after getting back to his feet.
He was just knocked down by a vicious right hand from Artur Beterbiev in the eighth round of a fierce battle and is visibly dazed.
Referee Steve Gray gives Yarde the chance to prove he’s okay and is satisfied enough to let the fight continue.
But less than a second after the action resumed, Yarde’s coach, Tunde Ajayi, orders the referee to end the fight.
It’s a rare sight in boxing, especially at the championship level, for a corner to take their fighter out.
Maybe Yarde, 31, could have survived, but there was still a minute left in the lap. That’s plenty of time to deflect the onslaught that would inevitably come from unified light-heavyweight champion Beterbiev.
Beterbiev has had 18 knockouts in his previous 18 fights. He is a ruthless finisher. And a bad knockout can change the trajectory of a fighter’s life, let alone their career.
Boxers Tony Bellew, Carl Frampton and Claressa Shields all took to social media after the fight to praise Ajayi’s decision.
“A very, very, very good save from Tunde Ajayi,” said former world champion Bellew.
“I don’t care what anybody says, [Yarde] was one shot there from being in a bad, bad way.
“He knows his fighter better than anyone.”
Ajayi has coached Yarde throughout his professional career. They met when he decided to take boxing seriously around the age of 19.
Yarde recalls how Ajayi forced him to earn his respect. He had to arrive at the gymnasium at 5 a.m. each day. He insisted he was not coaching amateurs, but Yarde made a knockout run through the unpaid ranks to change Ajayi’s mind.
BBC Sport visited Yarde and Ajayi at camp ahead of the Beterbiev fight. The practice session was a constant negotiation between the two, almost like a quarrel.
But it was clear that these two men rose through the ranks by boxing together. They know each other and have developed a remarkable relationship.
Ajayi called Yarde his “hero” while preparing for Saturday’s fight.
Ajayi has been criticized for his corner work in the past. His instructions to Yarde during his stoppage defeat by Sergei Kovalev in 2019 were questioned because they were primarily motivational rather than tactical.
After Yarde retrieves the second loss of his career against Lyndon Arthur, many have called for the east Londoner to find a new coach.
But Yarde refused to dump his trainer. Super welterweight boxer Hannah Rankin believes the move was justified and ultimately comes down to trust between a fighter and their trainer.
“At the end of the day, as a fighter, if you feel like you and your corner team are progressing together and you haven’t passed them, then there’s no reason to leave,” he said. she declared.
“They understand you and your body, not just you as a fighter, so I don’t see why you would change coaches.
“Anyone can criticize all they want, but these are the people you step into the ring with on fight night, and only Yarde knows if he wants to keep trusting those people.”
On Saturday night, Ajayi was praised for making a tough call.
It’s a move that could leave him unpopular with his fighter for a while, but after such an impressive performance against potentially the best light heavyweight in the world, it’s a call that allows Yarde to try again.
“Tunde gets a lot of batting and sometimes gets the better of himself,” said BBC Radio 5 Live analyst Barry Jones.
“But if Anthony was my son, I would have been so grateful that Tunde was there to do what he did.
“The end of the fight had already begun and he saved his fighter for another day.”
