It reads like a boxing all-star roster when you look at the fighters guided by the greatest American trainers of the 20th century.
For Angelo Dundee, think Carmen Basilio, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and José Nápoles, among others. Ray Arcel trained Tony Zale, Ezzard Charles, Roberto Durán and Larry Holmes. Meanwhile, Kronk Gym boss Emanuel Steward led Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko to world title glory.
Another corner great was Eddie Futch – a no-nonsense technician who later mentored Wildcard Gym chief Freddie Roach. Futch, who died aged 90 in October 2001, worked with numerous world champions but, in a 1991 Sports Illustrated interview, he named one man above all the rest.
Among his top 10 were light-heavyweight destroyer Bob Foster and Nicaraguan icon Alexis Argüello, but sitting proudly at the top was the fighter he helped guide past Muhammad Ali — and the man whose suffering ultimately prompted Futch to call time on the greatest heavyweight trilogy of them all: Joe Frazier.
Describing ‘Smokin’ Joe’, Futch said:
“The greatest heart of all, he fought from bell to bell. Every trainer should have one Joe Frazier in his life.”
The relationship stretched back to 1967, when Futch began working as an opponent scout for Frazier’s team, then headed by Yank “Bull” Durham. He later became cutman and ultimately took over as head trainer following Durham’s death in 1973.
When Futch famously pulled Frazier out of the rubber match against Ali — The Thrilla in Manila — in October 1975 after 14 rounds of unimaginable brutality, he told his warrior:
“Sit down, son. It’s all over. No one will ever forget what you did here today.”
