So I was watching the Froch fight last weekend and I wondered how successful he would have been without McCracken in his corner (who I have to say is a fantastic coach). He probably would have still won a world title and beaten a couple of names but would he have gone on the absurd run he's been on? I have to say I doubt it. I think McCracken is excellent at devising a gameplan and Froch is a more than willing student, eager to learn. Irish made a good point about the Kessler rematch, at the start the strategy seemed to be to have an authoritive jab and try to bank as many rounds as possible until Kessler worked it out, and then when that started to fail, switch to plan B and make it more of an inside fight. Contrast that with Calzaghe. I see Enzo as a rather average coach to be honest, maybe great in terms of getting his boxers into fighting shape but as a tactician he leaves a lot to be desired. It just so happens he had a really talented son, but Joe would have been a success with or without his father in the corner IMO. Enzo could only get Maccaranelli to fight one way and he had nothing in place it seems when Lockett went up against Pavlik. Roy Jones was such a phenom that he would have been successful with anyone IMO. Pacquiao on the other hand NEEDED Roach. Hamed is a weird one as he was obviously naturally gifted but the Ingle style suited him, when Suarez and Steward tried to amend it he looked like shit, however would he have had more longevity if he was nurtured by a different trainer from the start? The Tyson/Rooney thing has become something of a meme on boxing messageboards but it does have some merit. What are some examples of fighters who were reliant on their coaches for success?
Moorer. If Teddy hadn't pulled his self-serving grandstanding lecture, Moorer never would've beaten Holyfield.
Manny and Lummox. It's no coincidence that Lewis athletic prime and skill prime don't correspond. He was a clumsy oaf before Steward took over him. His only impressive performance pre-Manny was the Ruddock fight. Without Steward, Lewis is never a top 5-6 all time heavyweight great.
Joe Louis/Jack Blackburn Blackburn seemed able to pretty much program Louis to seamlessly make changes to his gameplan... Louis's ridiculous record in rematches supports this Tyson/Rooney ... it's one of the oldest fightbeat/secondsout jokes, but there's truth to it... Tyson, for whatever reason, responded to Rooney in a way he never seemed to do with any other trainer
Manny & any tall guy with a shaky chin, boxing skills, and a good right (Lewis, Wald Pussy, Hearns, should've included Amir Khan) Bernard Hopkins was made by Bouie Fisher & I feel like DLH was never as good with any other trainer as he was with Roberto Alcazar
I think DLH's "not quite as good as he was supposed to be" legacy went hand in hand with his inability to stick with one trainer
Agreed. If he went direct from Alcazar to Mayweather Sr (or someone else) it probably would have been different. Instead he decided to have a sampling of seemingly everybody in the business.
I'm looking into the FUTURE......FELIX VERDEJO.....the next future star out of PUERTO RICO.....but he needs a REAL TRAINER....not saying the people he have now are not good...but he needs to change it up.....he needs to jump around a bit....try out a few trainer...get out of PR....Trinidad never did it...Cotto waiting too long....one or two more fight n Verdejo need to spread his wings(legs) liek Cdogg sis..
Maidana with R. Garcia? I don't think he would have beaten Broner and been competitive with Floyd if he stuck with his old trainer.
He still would've beaten that scrub Broner, but he wouldn't have been competitive with Floyd no. He's better and more sneaky now.
