There is a difference, for me Angelo was a great corner adviser but not a great gym teacher, Freddie Roach is an excellent gym teacher but not the greatest corner man. Ray Arcel and Eddie Futch may have been both and Emmanuel Stewart had the knack with certain style guys Freddie Brown and Charlie Goldman were very good at both and George Gainford as well Can you name some who where good at one or the other or both
Sdunek sure does train and prepare guys well. And what a record that guy has in title fights in corners he has worked. And whenever Fritz is mentioned, you also have to mention Uli Wagner. He's gotten a lot of guys to the top as well, but has nowhere near the amount of championship fights Sdunek has. As for between rounds, I thought the job Kenny Weldon did between almost every round w/ Lykahovich against Brewster was the best I've seen. Atlas w/ Moorer in that first commander Vander fight springs to mind as a top motivational speech as well. Sure wasn't identical to what Don Turner was doing in the other corner, was it? Manny Seamon deserves a shout here as well. And that guy was doing it at such a young age. He did both.
Jack Hurley was very good as a corner advisor and a trainer in addition to excelling while managing fighters. It is too bad that such a boxing giant of the past is almost forgotten today. - Chuck Johnston
My first bias is to favor those who took boxers from amateur origins to professional glory. Gil Clancy might be my first choice for Griffith alone, as somebody who took Emile, a reluctant warrior, from beginning to end. It seems Patterson may have also done this for his adopted son Tracy. Emmanuel Steward and Kronk. 'Nuff said there. Cus D"Amato also took Floyd Patterson from amateur origin to HW Champion. The Petronellis get an awful lot of flack for their quiet corner demeanor during Hagler's final bout, but should that negate everything they did with Marv up to that point? They also took Pat's own son Tony to a LWW Title shot against Benitez in an era where father-uncle trainer-manager/son combinations were supposed to be a real no-no in boxing. Robbie Sims did win the USBA Title, and had a respectable career. Mark Holmes was the same age as Robbie, and racked up a 38-1 final record, but here's the difference. When the younger Holmes sibling fought John Collins for the USBA MW Title, Mark was crushed in two. But in his first defense of that title, Collins was crushed in less than a round by Sims on a nationally televised NBC broadcast, ending his career. [This was probably Robbie's most impressive career showing, although not the best opponent he defeated. He showed an excellent right jab against Chiaverini, and Barkley was an exciting knockout for him, although The Blade was out experienced at that stage.] Sims finished at 38-10-2, but was only stopped in seven by Benn, and many blemishes on his record were against champions and future champions. He was the last guy to beat Duran before SRL III, drew with Sutherland, and won his first against DeWitt. Nobody else knocked out Iran Barkley during the 1980s. Kalambay was a bridge too far, and he slid after that. Robbie's fights, wins and losses both, are not hard to find on youtube. While Sims didn't share his half brother's chin or power, he had the work ethic, hand and foot speed, and good right jab. But he was naturally a stylist, not a destroyer. And also, while he didn't have his brother's punch resistance, he did compensate with good survival skills. Oddly, in his one stoppage loss to Benn, he abandoned the southpaw stance to box orthodox, and acquitted himself credibly in what looked to be a very close contest before Nigel's hook cleanly clipped Robbie for that first knockdown. [Actually, he might have been a better orthodox boxer than Hagler was out of that stance.] Sims was also getting up immediately from that second and final knockdown in Benn's corner, but referee John Coyle was already waving an appropriate halt to the contest as Robbie started on his way down. Yes, he was finally stopped, but nobody ever had him down for as much as ten seconds despite that suspect chin, and he got himself back on his feet after three seconds following that final knockdown before Coyle got his arms around him, a reflection of his solid conditioning. Back to how quiet the Petronellis were in Hagler's corner during his final match, that wasn't always how they behaved between rounds. Check out how they address Sims after Robbie gets decked twice in the opening round by ESPN favorite Teddy Mann. With Goody in his face after the first two rugged stanza's, Sims gets on track, and takes control of the final eight rounds. [Officially, this was an SD win, but the match actually wasn't that close, and the Mann faithful in Atlantic City didn't protest the decision in Robbie's favor.]
For SRL, the trainers with him from the get-go were Janks Morton and Dave Jacobs. While Jacobs left after Montreal, Morton was still there for LaLonde after Ray parted with Angelo Dundee. [Jacobs came back for Hagler, and left again after Hearns II.] But it was Dundee who decoded the two-step and slide right pattern Hagler had for SRL to capitalize on, after studying Hagler-Duran and Hagler-Rondon. Dundee would come in two to three weeks before a bout and take charge of finishing preparations, but in Ray's case, it may well have been Janks who was primarily responsible for constructing the foundation.