Greatest Trainer and Why?

[billeau2]

Hard to pick a best.... Different horses for different courses. I think a lot of the great champs had great chemistry....Some people make you want to perform. So you get a guy like dundee. You take a guy like Louis who imo was quiet, not what I would call bright, but certainly intellectually able, well he has the capacity to be taught. Watching early Louis as he dashed across the ring (so much for the knock on Louis about slow footwork....those people have never seen early Louis) one can see how he jelled under Blackburn. A guy like Ali who was more hard headed might not have jelled under Blackburn.

Tyson needed a real Mensch and he got one... for a while.

I also think there are still great trainers out there. I happen to think that despite sounding like a braggert and a moron at times, Roger Mayweather is a fantastic trainer.

One big difference I see is that in the old days the trainers seemed to have to be more well rounded. You see different styles emerge now a days, the offensive minded Freddie Roach, the way Emmanuel Stewart taught guys how to win....But there seems to be a lot of short cuts. I can understand the mentality actually because when I would occasionally work with MMA guys I often noticed a lack of Ju Jutsu fundamentals. I mean when you can't use a choke properly because guys are defending against it whoope dew! But when you can't do the technique properly....thats a shortcoming.

[rightsideup]

My pick is Arcel, but sooner or later Nacho Beristain has to be included in this conversation

good point

[ShoulderRoll]

I vote for the trainer from the USA.

That's a solid pick. Few other countries have contributed as much to the development of boxing training, technique, and strategy as the United States.

[JimEarl]

I vote Ray Arcel from having watched the evolution of Duran's inside fight from the Buchanan fight to the Palomino fight.

Ezzard Charles also had a lot of subtle skills that had to have been learned somewhere.

[rightsideup]

Arcel is gaining momentum in the poll. I just wanted to add in a book I read about Ray he had mentioned that he had a great respect for Jack Blackburn.

[greeh]

I vote Ray Arcel from having watched the evolution of Duran's inside fight from the Buchanan fight to the Palomino fight.

Not to diminish Arcel's importance - he was indeed a vital part in Duran's success - but shouldn't Freddie Brown be credited as the engineer behind Duran's transformation from savage to perhaps the most complete pugilist Mother Earth has ever given birth to?

Arcel did have a 9-to-5 job at the time which meant it was Brown - not Arcel - who devoted countless hours in the gym to develop, integrate and fine-tune all technical, as well as physical, components to its peak. Arcel, on the other hand, usually popped up a week or two before the fight to devise a strategy.

[Humean]

That's a solid pick. Few other countries have contributed as much to the development of boxing training, technique, and strategy as the United States.

Must be why the US is so dominant at the Olympics these days.

Seriously though the US has certainly contributed the most but there have been great trainers from other countries too and the strands of development in these countries haven't all flowed straight from the US. It wasn't a US trainer that was sent to Cuba that transformed them into the dominant amateur boxing country.

[ShoulderRoll]

It wasn't a US trainer that was sent to Cuba that transformed them into the dominant amateur boxing country.

Cuba had produced several great world champions on its own prior to the communist era. I don't know how much "transforming" they really needed although I'm sure Soviet organization and methods were welcomed into the existing boxing culture.

[billeau2]

Must be why the US is so dominant at the Olympics these days.

Seriously though the US has certainly contributed the most but there have been great trainers from other countries too and the strands of development in these countries haven't all flowed straight from the US. It wasn't a US trainer that was sent to Cuba that transformed them into the dominant amateur boxing country.

Cuba indeed! Great boxing program. An island that barely is the size if most states has produced some of the greatest fighters far and wide. Mexico of course as well. I am particularly enamored with cuba though...Wow! watching Stephenson...a guy who I thought had the full package, even today watching the Cubans the quality control is phenominal. Show me a Cuban fighter who does not have technical skills to burn and I will show you a four leaf clover!

[billeau2]

Cuba had produced several great world champions on its own prior to the communist era. I don't know how much "transforming" they really needed although I'm sure Soviet organization and methods were welcomed into the existing boxing culture.

The East German and Soviet bloc had some things for sure. What I always noticed with cuba is something you often see in Puerto Rico as well (to a varying degree). Guys who have been coached in the technical aspects of the game, excellently. While guys like Ray Corso have opinions about the olympic style, and critiscisms are always a part of the dialogue when comparing different styles, there is something wonderful about seeing boxers who have been trained to do things technically from a young age, regardless of the methods and techniques of a particular school of thought.