What made Eddie Futch such a great trainer?

[ShoulderRoll]

What were his strengths as a coach? Were there certain characteristics that defined a Futch fighter?

[billeau2]

What were his strengths as a coach? Were there certain characteristics that defined a Futch fighter?

Two things I like to look at with a question of this sort are regionality and time frame. Regionality means what area did the guy come out of? We know that in the classical period of boxing we don't hear about all the incredible fighters that came out of Nevada...probably because they didn't exist> and if one were to ask to define the fighter from the rough streets of Oklahoma City...wellllll.... Sure guys came from everywhere, but they didn't learn how to fight professionally "everywhere."

Its hard for people to imagine this fact today where a kid comes from Guayana, Greensboro and anywhere else, and usually has a somewhat stable gym to train with. Tap out has a gym coming near you, and they have a boxing coach! yet even today guys gravitate to certain trainers after a while.

Time Frame is when the guy shined...Who did he see fight before he trained people? Futch was fighting when guys like Gans and Dempsey were big names so he came right into the classical period when he trained Frazier to bob and weave.

Detroit michigan has always been a boxing mecca. Having trained where Louis did, and having been part of that tradition including Kronks, etc, we know Futch was surrounded by boxing royalty. Great fighters from the midwest probably made Detroit the best center, Chicago could imo never compete. Detroit style came all the way to around the foot of the alleghany, the end of Appalachia where Pittsburgh, another great boxing town held sway. past Pittsburgh? we had Philly and of course New York, where kids from Canarsie and as far away as Jersey all had to know how to throw a punch one way or another.

If I could characterize the Detroit boxing ethos...I think a fighter like Michael Moore is a great example: Moore was known around the gym as an alpha: great technical skill combined with a killer instinct and incredible potential. Guys like Blackburn and Hutch, originally from the backroads of the deep south were great technical thinkers, innovators and no nonsense.

Futch tended to like guys who had all the skill sets, fighters like Bowe who could fight inside, could punch and develop their own style from a great technical base. Futch worked with so many top level guys, Arguello, Spinks, Holmes, etc because he knew that to make a difference a guy should know all the skills and develop those aspects that complimented their approach in a very precise technical manner. I don't believe Blackburn or Hutch would have had Vlad Kiltsko tying people up like Stewart did...Just my opinion. Men like Hutch, the whole tradition of technical excellence that was part of Detroit style, demanded that a man know the skills that make one technically astute.

So what made Futch such a great trainer to me was his exposure to a tradition of excellence and his proclivity to expect a fighter to be well rounded and willing to develop his special talents...Sometimes this is not obvious. For example, for every Mayweather (a Michigan prodigy) there were guys like Rid**** Bowe. Bowe may not have reached the heights of glory expected but he was a very well rounded fighter because of Hutch.

[The Old LefHook]

I like what Bill said. I think Detroit was/is a bigger boxing town than Chicago. The big three must have been Detroit, Philly, New York, and I don't know the order.

As for Futch, when you are able to talk that quietly it means someone is listening. He wasted no words at all, as if each word were well considered. I think people in general want to work with coaches they like personally and get along with easily. Futch would be one of the easy ones, he was such a gentle man. I do not know much about his store of boxing knowledge or his training techniques, I just believe there was quite a bit that passes away with an old timer like that. He thought highly of the young Mosley, I wonder what he could have done with Shane? Maybe Shane's daddy had reached his own limits.

[billeau2]

I like what Bill said. I think Detroit was/is a bigger boxing town than Chicago. The big three must have been Detroit, Philly, New York, and I don't know the order.

As for Futch, when you are able to talk that quietly it means someone is listening. He wasted no words at all, as if each word were well considered. I think people in general want to work with coaches they like personally and get along with easily. Futch would be one of the easy ones, he was such a gentle man. I do not know much about his store of boxing knowledge or his training techniques, I just believe there was quite a bit that passes away with an old timer like that. He thought highly of the young Mosley, I wonder what he could have done with Shane? Maybe Shane's daddy had reached his own limits.

I would put Pittsburgh up there also...Grebb, Conn, Charlie Burley, Michael Moorer (though more a detriot creation), Sammy Angott, Frank Moran, Brian Minto and Paul Spadaforra (very talented young man if he had stayed the course), to name a few. Pittsburgh had the tough appalachian streak and the urban pressure cooker of a city!

Mosley was a prodigy.

[ShoulderRoll]

Good post, billeau2.

I'm surprised Chicago wasn't more of a boxing hotbed back then. Or some of the cities out west for that matter, like L.A. and San Francisco.

[billeau2]

Good post, billeau2.

I'm surprised Chicago wasn't more of a boxing hotbed back then. Or some of the cities out west for that matter, like L.A. and San Francisco.

Well, its interesting how demographic logic works...back in the days prior to the earthquake San Francisco was huge. South of Market rivaled the West side of New York City and was, along with London, Chicago, New York and a few other cities, one of the places where tenaments were built for factory workers South of Market Street. Then the big one hit in 1906 (or was it 08?). If you were to look at that time, there were some fighters coming out of LA but San Francisco had many more...Abe Attell, Corbett, Gunboat Smith, Fred Apostolis, Willie Ritchie, etc. Oakland especially always had hard scrabble on the docks.

After the quake you see a real decline though. A lot less fighters from that area. Of course we have Ward.