All time great boxing trainers

I'd take out Rooney. What else did he do of note besides train the supremely gifted Mike Tyson?

I'd add Nacho Bernstein on there.

 

Emmanuel Steward should get it for Pep-talking:


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That was after Wladimir recovered from two knockdowns from Samuel Peter.

 

I won't go into rating the all time great trainers of history, but I will say that Emmanuel Steward is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant trainers of my lifetime. He is a master of devising strategies and tactics that makes fights he is involved in to seem like chess matches where a guy who isn't particulaly gifted is compensated by a brilliantly concieved battle plan. Steward is a keen analyst of his fighters, and is second to none in ring intelligence.

 

Dundee, Clancy, Duva and Giachetti are clearly top motivators.

For teachers, I would go with Blackburn, Clancy, Benton and Steward. I would also not overlook Tom "Sarge' Johnson in this respect. His emphasis on lateral movement was a key factor in the success of the 1976 US Olympic Boxing Squad in Montreal. Developmentally, Fred Stoner is well known as the primary teacher of the young Cassius Clay, although Clay first gained televison exposure making $4.00 weekly through Louisville patrolman Joe E. Martin's Tomorrow's Boxing Champions program.

As a strategist, Futch is head and shoulders above the others in my book. While I do regard Futch as the greatest of all boxing trainers overall, if I held the contract of an athletically gifted prospect whose boxing skills had to be developed from scratch, I'd probably select Clancy first, considering his success with Griffith. My second choice would probably be Steward.

I'm not convinced Rooney belongs on that list. Perhaps Charley Goldman would be a better selection. Cus D'Amato should probably be mentioned as well, considering how far his tutelage carried an undersized heavyweight with a limited ability to take a punch. (Of course, Patterson in turn led his own adopted son to a world title himself. That Floyd and Tracy Harris Patterson were the first father/son world boxing champion combination is one thing, but overlooked is that fact that Tracy Harris Patterson was not Floyd's biological son, and therefore not possessed with Floyd's genetic attributes, making Floyd's guidance of Tracy to championship status all the more remarkable. In effect, Floyd carried forward what he had learned from D'Amato in making his own adopted son a champion.) As far as I'm concerned, Mike Tyson's successes in boxing were also a manifestation of D'Amato's tutelage.

Many of the techniques Blackburn used with Louis were behind closed doors, in private. To enhance Louis's handspeed and reflexes, he actually had Joe practice snatching flies out of mid-air.

Dundee was a hard core opponent of barbell and dumbell use for strength training and muscular development. Woodchopping was preferred by Ali, and the traditional strength training method of choice for many boxers.

Ali reportedly spent the first 45 minutes of each workout performing stretching exercises. Interestingly, he is not supposed to have used a medicine bag to toughen up his body, yet he freely gave away bodyshots, and may had been the toughest HW in history when it came to withstanding bodyblows.

Gene Tunney worked for a year as a lumberjack to successfully strengthen his hands. Although noted as one of the fastest heavyweight champions, he is said to have escewed the use of a speedbag in training.

While Marciano would demonstrate speedbag work for newsreel cameras, according to Skehan's biography Rocky was convinced it was of no use to a heavyweight. Skehan reported that it was Marciano's approach to shadowbox in shoulder deep water for developing his handspeed. That handspeed of his was a key factor in overwhelming Rex Layne (who himself was fast enough to post decision wins over Jersey Joe Walcott (before he became HW champ) and Ezzard Charles (before he gave Marciano 15 rounds of hell).

 

Angelo Dundee was one of the best motivators, no question.

Steward's right up there as one of the best, but he was not the trainer for Hamed. Probably because Steward was not the head trainer, and never quite got the input with Hamed he would have liked. Hamed's stance was very wide, flat footed, and his upperbody movement was non-existent.

I'll never forget what Steward told Hamed during the Barrera fight "open up and this fight is over with". Steward should have advised Hamed on how to lay his gloves on Barrera to win rounds, rather than outright preaching for the knockout.

Barrera's knockout defeat against Junior Jones fooled everyone, including Steward. Hamed was such a devastating puncher, many thought he'd be able to do what Jones done to Barrera.

Steward made some great fighters, but I like his ability to breed confidence back into a fighter after a career threatning defeat. He done it with Hearns and Lewis, now he's got Klitschko's career back on track.

 

The best corner team in boxing history, including the fighter. Whitaker, Duva, and Benton.

 

I wouldn't include him as one of the best trainers in history----I think most have been mentioned in the thread already---but the corner speeches Al Braverman delivered during Hagler - Hamsho 1 were the best I've ever seen. I

 

We should not forget Whitey Bimstein. He trained several champions (for example Rocky Graziano) and was a good motivator, too.

 

Over Futch, Arcel and Holmes? (I'm simply asking if you'd considered them Robbi.)

 

:yikes Dundee, Chicky Ferrara, Freddy Brown, Whitey Bimstein, Charlie Goldman, Eddie Futch and George Benton.

 

Yep, over Futch, Arcel and Holmes. Holmes never absorbed and listened intently to instructions like the way Whitaker did between rounds.

Futch, Arcel and Holmes looks great on paper more than anything else. I'm not saying they weren't a good team, but not quite as good as the above.

 

Slim Jim Robinson never seems to get a mention but is a superb technical trainer. George Benton is another fantastic trainer and Janks Morton had his times. Just throwing out a few lesser lights.

 

Not mentioned here Jackie McCoy,Benny Georgino,Eddie Thomas.