Eddie Futch IMO, he was a brilliant strategist. He brought down Ali with both Norton and Frazier being trained by him. His fighter gave Jones jr his first loss (Montell Griffin). They are just 2 examples. Another that deserves mention is Ray Arcel, but I don't know enough about him
dude, it was against a prime jones not the faded fool that lost to tarver and he was giving Roy a hell of a night before the DQ. Montell also beat a prime Toney. I think Montell griff may be the most underrated fighter of the last 15 years. One of the many things that made Futch so amazing is he could get guys who had less talent to win fights. Arcel is up there. Floyd senior may get there.
I know but what Montell Griffin was doing brought about that disqualification. He was successful against Jones and gave him a bit of trouble. Jones was frustrated and hit him when he was down. Thats against the rules and it was justified for him to be disqualified. Griffin put Jones in that mood temperament. Also, Eddie Futch trained Mike McCallum and Montell Griffin against James Toney. There was an article somewhere about he was the downfall of Toney and how he had his number.
Emmanuel Steward is very good, he's trained so many world champions (the most ever I think). He trained guys from scratch eg Tommy Hearns, and he can take over guys and turn them into much better fighters eg Klitschko and Lewis. One of the best ever. Another underated trainer is Nacho Beristain, he trained both Marquez brothers and a few other champions (can't remember who), he's a horrible manager though. In the corner he's very calm and collected and is one of the best
Maybe Emmanuel Steward. He has taken guys from the beginning to the end. He has come on and tweaked guys with huge rewards. He has even come in for just a bout or two. Either way he had something to do with some of the best at heavy and other weight classes.
Johnny Lewis took a raw Jeff Fenech and turned him into a triple crown champion.Also took the limited but gutsy Jeff Harding to a world title and was in Kostya Tszyu's corner for his entire professional career. Taking three fighters to world titles might not seem much,but for a small country (population wise) like Australia which has only had about a dozen legitimate world champions,it's a fair effort. Lewis actually cares about his fighters and his one weakness (if you could call it that) is that he would rather stop a fight prematurely than give his fighter the benefit of the doubt and see him get hurt.
For raising a fighter from scratch i like Emmanuel Steward. For unbelievable tactical astuteness i like Eddie Futch. I think Ray Arcel is worthy of mention too. Underrated a bit among many might be Slim Jim Robinson, George Benton and Janks Morton. Good stuff about Lewis Griffo.
