Famed boxing trainer Teddy Atlas cornered Timothy Bradley vs. Brandon Rios earlier this month. Although the two have only worked together for a short period of time, between rounds 7 and 8, Atlas burned into Bradley’s heart with 40 seconds for the ages.

“15 minutes,” he began. “Can you be strong for 15 minutes? CAN YOU? Your concentration is weaving a little bit. Pick it up. PICKITUP!!! Don’t pull straight out. Bend your knees and be strong on the inside, and go around him. Let’s control the outside.”

Then Atlas turned from the technical to the heart.

Look, the fire’s coming,” he said. “Are you ready for the fire? We’re fire men. WE ARE FIRE MEN!!! 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?!”

At that moment the Seconds Out alarm sounded. Atlas rolled on.

“We CONTROL THE FLAMES!!” he yelled. “We control them!! We move the flames where we want to. And then we extinguish them.

Bradley came out in the ninth and won by TKO to retain his WBO welterweight title.

Later Atlas discussed the Fire Speech with Fight Hype.

“I have a history of being a little emotional in the corner,” he explained. “I got ready and got him ready, and he did all the hard work, being Tim, for the best Rios – this relentless guy that puts you through fire – you gotta be ready for the fire.”

Rios, 29, said he may retire.