Is Ray Arcel the most credible boxing expert of the 20th century?

well put

 

Seeing that along with a host of greats he trained he was also the man in the corner for arguably the two greatest lightweights of all time, Benny and Duran, his opinion for many of us would be worth far more then a grain of salt, that saying does apply to us ham and eggers on eastside though. (He choose Roberto as the greatest of the two showing he didn't decide based on when he saw them).

 

I wouldn't argue too hard against him

 

I can't say he was "the" most credible but he was one of the top .. sixty years in the game .. saw Benny Leonard, Jack Dempsey, the end of Johnson, Langford, Tunney, all the thirties guys , a ton of Joe Louis , Ezzard Charles , Marciano ect .. of course a prime Duran .. was based in the hub of boxing from the 20's to the early 60's , NYC , so he was certainly a top guy ..

 

Was Ray Arcel the "most credible boxing expert" of the 20th century ? Who knows. but if I would have to pick a surgeon for a life threatening operation I would choose the most experienced Dr. coupled with the most "respected"
doctor chosen by the boxing fraternity and that was Ray Arcel. He trained more champions than any trainer of the Twentieth Century, by far...His reputation was impeccable...Of the last 25 years were I a fighter, I would be tutored by Manny Steward of Kronk Gym...Yessir...

 

none moreso than when he picked Patterson to beat Liston!

 

Liston didn't have a single fight held in New York City, so how would Arcel know anything about him first-hand, it's excusable.

 

Just because you are the greatest of all boxing trainers does not mean you pick the correct winner of bouts yet to occur.

 

I recently read a bio on Arcel, it was a fascinating read and it leaves me with no doubt's that he's an expert. In one fight in the 80's I can't remember the bout, he sized up an opponent and said that this guy reminded him of a fighter back in the 30's.

 

He's definitely up there anyone who was a trainer for that long should be respected when he talks about boxing or boxers.

 

It's going to be a stretch picking any one person as the most credible boxing expert of an era let alone a century . Saying that arcel would of been one person it would of been an absolute honour to spend some time with .

 

An active fighter or a top flight trainer will typically know a lot of things about the current crop of fighters that you and I don’t.

This would be equally true of Manny Steward, or David Haye.

 

If you look at those he trained alone it's a who's who of boxing history. Ross, Leonard, Baer, Braddock, Zale, Charles, Duran, Holmes. This is just to name a few. His mentors into the game were former trainers of Tunney and Wills.

 

He definitely knew a lot about boxing and a lot about boxers, so yeah he must be up there. But you could say the same about for example Futch, so he's not unique.

And while Dundee probably wasn't as good at developing fighters, he was arguably the greatest trainer/manager ever with an exceptional knowledge about current fighters and which ones to match his own guys with.

Then you have scouts and managers and the like that we never heard of but who saw an extreme amount of fights and fighters. Not to mention boxing reporters, like for example Nat Fleischer.

And don't forget fighters themselves, who both studied and fought other fighters. Tyson, for example, definitely knows his ****. Benton and Moore both fought and trained great fighters and probably studied many more.