What makes Philadelphia such...

Great post

 

The city is large and it always has had at least one top-notch promoter who was smart, understood the city's boxing history, and tended to business. The TV contract featuring fights had a lot to do with that, certainly, but it wouldn't have happened without a savvy promoter. Hats off to Russel Peltz and his many predecessors. To my mind, that's the No. 1 reason without question. Everything else follows.

 

I think there are plenty of men in all of these cities who are good enough trainers to train elite boxers. Not that they need the old trainers’ secrets, but what makes you think those guys took their secrets to the grave?

 

Danny Garcia is probably the most accomplished Philly fighter of the past 10 years. There have been a bunch of other guys who’ve gotten hype as prospects and fringe contenders before being exposed when they stepped up.

Probably the same story as a lot of American cities: basketball, football, the gun violence and blight of the crack era, more punitive sentencing laws, and gentrification...City still has several boxing gyms (including at least some run by old Philly fighters and trainers) but talented kids and teens are probably a lot less likely to find their way to the sport there than they were decades ago (and less likely to stick with it).

 

The lack of great trainers from those areas relative to what they used to produce, primarily. But, you may have a point. Maybe the old timers passed on everything they had and the next gen couldn't implement it, other trainers caught up, or some combination of those factors.

Honestly, I think it's a bit too rosy to say there's plenty of men in all those cities good enough to train elite boxers. Granted, there's more competition and fewer kids walking through the doors, but I have a hard time thinking there's still not enough raw talent for, say, Philly not to produce more world caliber fighters.

 

Danny Garcia is rebuilding his stock with a confidence booster fight with granados. But no doubt he has the best resume of any active Philly fighter. I dont really enjoy his fights tho and his dad is a jackass and a bad trainer, he needa a new one bad.

In terms of skill and technique, Tevin Farmer is phenomenal and just may be on the verge of greatness if he keeps winning and stays out of trouble.

Like Chicago and Detroit, Philly is just one of those major cities that will always produce colorful characters and potentially great athletes due to the harsh living conditions, drama, and sheer size. Not very complicated to figure out if you ever been to or lived in places like that. Only the toughest survive and the smart ones run as fast as they can if they do make. Last i checked being tough and learning from your mistakes are 2 of the most important qualities a boxer can have.

 

Up until 1950, Philadelphia may have been the second greatest fight town in the United States with New York City being the greatest. However, there were at least two periods when professional boxing was illegal in New York City during the first half of the 20th Century. Meanwhile, professional boxing was legal in Philadelphia during the entire time. But Philadelphia had relatively few world championship bouts from 1900 to 1920, the main reason being that bouts were scheduled for a maximum limit of six rounds with no official decisions being rendered there at the time.

Los Angeles has been a terrific fight town, but it had a much smaller population than Philadelphia during the first thirty years of the 20th Century. Yes, the Los Angeles area had quite a few major bouts during the first fifteen years of the century, but professional boxing was illegal or highly restricted in much of the U.S. at the time, notably in New York City and Chicago. That meant both Los Angeles and San Francisco were such important fight centers by default despite both cities being far smaller than New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia in terms of population from about 1900 to 1914. But in late 1914, the Four-Round Law came into being in California, which was put in place to prohibit professional boxing in the state. However, it was an open secret that many boxers were getting purses to fight in California from late 1914 to early 1925. The law did result in far fewer important bouts being staged in California for about ten years.

- Chuck Johnston

 

I'm actually not sure how much being a great trainer can be taught. I think some people just have a much sharper eye, or better strategic minds, and I don't know how much it can be passed on, if you don't have someone talented enough.

 

How many great trainers have trained great trainers?

 

The friendly people!

 

The best boxing infrastructure in the world, now every other place has similar levels of boxing infrastructure

 

I think the whole notion of "The Great Boxing Trainer" is mostly fantasy, tbh. Especially the way they get discussed in forums like this, by people who mostly have zero interactions with serious boxing trainers.

 

I hear you but we're talking about really small numbers here. Keep in mind--the difference between a city being seen as a glorious hotbed of boxing talent vs. being seen as a boxing ghost-town is really just a handful of world-class fighters at any given point in time. If a couple guys with natural fighting talent devote themselves to basketball or get caught up in the criminal justice system or shot, etc. it can have a huge impact. I think those outcomes have been that much more likely for young men growing up in Philly in the past few decades. Just my theory.

 

I wouldn't disagree, and really success gets amplified a lot, because once a trainer gets a reputation, they start attracting the talent.

But there is certainly some who are better and worse, and by great all I mean is ones very much at the better end. Though part of it is also just having a good match, as even most of the best ones, have certain styles they really need to teach.

 

I agree with all of this.