Probably not. All great fighters need a solid trainer to maintain their status against the best fighters. Futch was one of the best. Giachetti who took Holmes over wasnt too shabby either.
Definitely not. He most certainly benefited from futch's knowledge to get him through tough moments. Muhammad ali didn't need advise from anyone in the ring, nor did he take any. He always knew what to do, when and how to do it. This was always evident, even when his skills began to erode. Even in his loss to berbick he knew what to do but just didn't have the reflexes. When Holmes got hurt against fighters like david bey and in his first fights against bonecrusher smith and michael spinks, holmes seemed at a loss of what to do. When holmes was rocked by bey, he had to be told by futch to use the jab, which turned the the tide of the fight. Holmes was one of the greatest heavy's of all time, definitely in the top 5, but not by himself.
I think he is. He was already established when Futch came aboard.Befor Futch he had Ray Arcel & Freddie Brown in his corner along with Rich G.
Anybody would benefit from Futch, but Holmes would be quite ok without. He'd still be a great fighter even without Futch's cutting edge tactical genius.
While a great trainer can take a fighter to the next level, or formulate a game plan to mask deficiencies, Holmes was a true fighter who learned his craft the hard way in the gym. Holmes will to win, toughness, and natural ability had nothing at all to do with Futch. If you ever listen to Holmes speak, he's authentic, stubborn and speaks his own mind. While I do not doubt Futch helped Holmes on the finer points of the game, I also think Larry's legend might even be greater without Futch...because he might have been in a few more fights where his toughness and will to win were put to the test.
