Can some boxers do without trainers?

I remember when Hearns fought Virgil Hill and not having Emanuel did not matter as much since he was so experienced. He seemed to know what to do without being told. I think that is when you don't need someone as much. A younger fighter needs it more. Older guys? you can put anyone in there..

 

Hearns doesn't fit at all per the thread.

He was trained by Alex Sherer for this fight. He was extremely familiar with Hearns and knocked up a beautiful game plan.

 

Sherer was just a puppet. And his brother Billy also. They told him what to do and he did what he wanted. You could tell he was on autopilot in those fights. I think he realized with Olajide that he could just fight with experience and that is all he needed. Ray with Lalonde also and Duran. Those guys really were on top they know how to fight without advice.

 

Very few fighters could get away with it, and those better be experienced guys who also have some kind of ‘infrastructure’ around them.

Let’s assume we’re talking about top guys ... opponents and club fighters probably can do a lot of things themselves, but they’re also not going to be on the winning side very often (but that might change if they actually had a trainer, haha).

OK, let’s start with logistics. You don’t have a trainer. Who’s going to line up the sparring partners for the next fight? Who’s going to make sure the gym is available when you want to spar? Who’s going to arrange for the transportation of the sparring partners to and from the gym? Who’s going to make sure they get fed? Who’s going to stay up at night calling around to find a replacement when one of them cancels?

Now maybe the manager handles this ... but not every manager knows the inside of the sport well enough to find the RIGHT sparring partners: the ones who are going to push you hard enough, going to resemble your opponent enough (and take instruction on what you want them to help you work on when you spar ... you gonna spit your mouthpiece out between rounds and explain what you want them to do while you’re catching your breath?).

I could go on and on.

A fighter needs to concentrate on the fight. If he has to handle all of these things, he’s not focusing on what he needs to focus on.

Now the fighter also better be damned disciplined. Who’s going to make you get up and do roadwork when you don’t feel like it, make sure you do it when it’s cold and rainy, make sure you go the extra mile in the gym every day? Who’s going to tell you to pick it up?

OK, now who’s going to remind you when you’re bringing your jab back too low, or too slow? You’re the fighter — you can see the other guy — but you can’t see yourself. Who’s going to remind you that your chin is coming up when you punch and you’re vulnerable to a counter? Who’s going to correct your footwork?

Same goes for game plan. Some fighters may take time to watch every available minute of film on the opponent and then watch it again and again until they see the flaws. But are they also going to study their own film to try to figure out what the opponent is going to do? A good trainer will. Who’s going to come up with Plan B ahead of time so you know what to do if Plan A doesn’t work? Most fighters will fool themselves, they can’t allow themselves the doubt (what if he takes away my jab? what if he takes the right-hand counters that I’m sure will back him up and just grins and keeps coming? Etc.). That’s the trainer’s job.

What about motivating in the corner? What about psychology — finding ways to get you to do what’s best for you at the right time, making you go places where you can’t make yourself go?

I’ll give you an example from a guy I trained, a club fighter. He was in with a dirty guy who kept leading with his head and butting my guy. Busted my guy’s nose with his head and cut him. It was intentional. Got warned once or twice but the ref wasn’t going to do anything about it.

So after three rounds my guy comes back to the corner and you can see he’s frustrated and not thinking and starting to panic. I grab his face and look him in the eye and ask, “Are you willing to go to hell to win this fight?” He says, “Yes.” I say, “OK, well take him with you and let’s see if he is.” I instructed him that the next time the guy butts him, to throw an uppercut and hit him in the balls as hard as he can. And yells something at him, like “FU.”

About 30 seconds into the next round, guy butts him again and my gut comes back with a hard low blow. Guy doubles over, ref warns my guy and gives the other guy time to recover. He takes a minute or so and they resume and you can tell my guy’s demeanor has changed and so has the other guy. My guy comes in and the other guy never takes another forward step. My guy stops him in the next round.

A fighter needs a trainer he believes and trusts in. A trainer needs a fighter he can believe and trust in. It’s a great partnership that benefits both. Together they can be better than the sum of the parts. It’s a bond, when it’s right, that’s deeper than any coach-athlete relationship in any other sport, really. I don’t train fighters anymore but I’m still friends with a few whom I did train. Some others I run into from time to time. I value and cherish those relationships, and it’s obvious those guys do, too.

 

Do your research and you will see Sherer did some excellent scouting going into the Hill fight and everything worked perfectly from pacing to taking away Hill's left hand. He did an excellent job with Hearns who was a sizable underdog.

 

I think Hearns was a 3/1 underdog. He was working out in Venice at Quake City gym and sparring Hembrick. I don't think Sherer changed Tommy at all. I talked to Sherer a few times and called him at Caesars that week. Hearns took away Hill's jab with his own jab and Hill didn't have a right. If you do your research you will see that Hearns said, Hill was all wrong for him and that was not his best fight, but all he needed to beat Hill was his left hand. Sherer didn't give him that, Hearns always had it.

 

I often wondered why more isn't made of this win.

 

Hearns started out a 4 or 5-1 underdog and was backed into 2 1/2 or so.

Sherer did a great job with Hearns for Hill. He had him hooking to the head far more than he ever had and it worked a treat, hooking off the jab and the likes. He definitely added some things. Hill was dumbfounded. He also had him sitting back a bit looking to counter more when he wasn't jabbing, and when Hill tried to counter Hearns often looked to counter the counter.

Many considered Sherer the trainer of the year in 1991 so he wasn't doing too bad.

Not being called Emanuel Steward didn't mean he couldn't train.

 

Wlad could've been equally successful without Johnathon Banks in his corner for the last 5 years of his career, after Steward passed away

 

Interesting read here with an interview with Sherer and Roach ..Have you guys read this ???

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-06-05/sports/sp-100_1_game-plan

 

Floyd Mayweather is the worst example, he was trained his whole life by world champions, contenders and olympic coaches, he had access to the training camps of world champions, he had access to the USA olympic team training camp, he had world champions as sparring partners since he was a kid and fought the best amateurs in the world before turning pro, of course he is extremely skilled but that's because he had access to the best training his entire life.

 

Well Floyd was a fighter who didn't take on a lot of risk and fight some guys at their best. He often speaks highly of his Dad in that he wouldn't have accomplished what he did without his Dad's training.. In other examples as well, I am sure the trainer acts as a life coach as well to a lot of boxers .. going beyond just what happens in the ring..