Virgil Hunter -- Is He A Top 10 World-Class Trainer?

[F!x]

Where would you approximately place Virgil Hunter in your world trainer rankings - how good do you think he is? I used to have him as high as a Top 5 trainer but now I'm beginning to wonder if he's just struck it lucky with the naturally-gifted Ward and Khan. His other fighters don't seem to be doing so well and his advice in the corner isn't always effective or useful. He didn't help Mayfield that much during the Dulorme fight, he just kept saying stuff like "you don't want to wake up tomorrow regretting your performance today", or words to that effect.

But he didn't really offer much technical advice, it seemed to be largely motivational speeches which do serve a purpose but need to be reinforced with analysis and technical support. Of course, it might not alter the course of the fight but you never know - a lot of fighters who have good corners have said that they wouldn't have won certain fights (or they would have had a lot more difficulty during the fight) had it not been for good corner advice. For example, Pacquiao mentioned something like that after the Cotto fight, Froch after the Taylor fight, Calzaghe after the Hopkins fight etc..

[Szef]

Only one Hunter's fighter is world class and doing well. His name is Andre Ward.

That other guy mentioned, Amir something,recently gets knocked down or out in his every fight.

[Uklad]

Only one Hunter's fighter is world class and doing well. His name is Andre Ward.

That other guy mentioned, Amir something,recently gets knocked down or out in his every fight.

You sure you've watched all his fights?

[( . Y . )]

Sure top 10, but really he is quite average.

[Szef]

You sure you've watched all his fights?

No, not all of them. Watching brainless fighter who thinks he's a world class brawler hitting canvas over and over again gets boring after some time.

[Beercules]

I don't know. Angulo looked clueless against Canelo, Khan was taken to the trenches by Julio ****ing Diaz and Mayfield just lost. Berto; self explanatory.

Virgil reminds me of Herbert the Pervert in the corner with his advice.

[#1Assassin]

he is a top 10 trainer for sure, maybe even top 5.

you cant ignore what he has done with ward, people talk about him getting lucky having the chance to train someone as gifted as ward and he is. but ward is lucky to have hunter as a trainer to. you cant get as good as ward without a great teacher, all the talent in the world will mean nothing if you dont have someone who can hone it into something real.

having had ward from the first day he walked into the gym you have to give hunter credit for turning him into the second best fighter on the planet.

as for the losses he took with other fighters i think much of it is just taking tough fights. a lot of people say roach is a better matchmaker than he is a trainer, that might be an exaggeration but he is good at picking fights for sure. hunter on the other hand doesnt if he even tries. his fighters have very hard fights, it seems he is training them to be complete fighters who can deal with anything just like ward. problem being he hadnt had the time to teach them everything.

not many trainers can beat canelo with angulo, in fact i dont think anyone can. matthysse with mike dallas either. berto struggled too, but lets keep in mind he fought that soto karass fight with one good arm. with two good arms i dont think he loses and he definitely doesnt get stopped imo.


hunter is a great trainer though, he will start having more success with fighters other than ward soon.

[boliodogs]

I think he is overrated from what I have seen from him and his fighters. I voted top 100. He might rate much higher but I don't know much or anything about all the many trainers. I could probably only name 10 or 15 trainers at most.

[Black Barty]

Well, to be fair, the fighters he is working with (other than Ward) are not the easiest cases. I mean, how do you teach chin (Khan) or speed (Angulo)? And don't even get me started on Berto.

It's easy to look great as a trainer when you work with fighters like Floyd, Manny or Mikey Garcia... But even Roach couldn't do anything about Chavez Jr., and Robert Garcia couldn't prepare Donaire to beat Rigo (and say what you will about how overrated Donaire is/was, he had the physical tools to win that fight).

[BennyST]

I voted top 25, but he could well be top 10. I really don't like the advice he gives personally. He's seems more of a motivator than a trainer to me. I like trainers that give simple, easy to follow instructions and can also motivate/push a fighter when they need to, and not bull**** them.

I just don't personally like his training strategies, though they obviously work for some.