In boxing, what is sometimes done to concede submission or defeat?

“Throwing in the towel” is a symbol of surrender in the stylized war that is the prize ring. It is a gesture that goes back to bare-knuckle days when a combatant’s corner, judging their man to be beaten and in danger, could fling in the sponge in the midst of the action and end the contest.

In 1909 the corner of the “Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries ran up the white flag when their man was being thrashed by Jack Johnson. Max Schmeling’s trainer did the same, when Joe Louis brutally pummeled his fighter in their 1938 encounter.