Trainers have been the talk of boxing of late so Adam Smith looks at some of the great, good, bad and ugly.
Recent moves show how important the trainers are
Of course fighters themselves win the fight. Yet behind each and every one, from the journeymen to the finest world champions, there is someone fighting their corner.
Over the last week or two, it has been announced that Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya and Amir Khan have all made crucial decisions to switch trainers.
The Hitman has severed ties with long-term coach and mentor Billy Graham, to move to a combination of largely unknown Lee Beard, and the very well-known Floyd Mayweather Snr for his vital November clash with Paulie Malignaggi.
With Floyd Snr tied to Hatton, De La Hoya has chosen the wise Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain to unlock Manny Pacquiao. Excellent move. Beristain's work with Juan Manuel Marquez will stand them well against the Filipino star.
Amir Khan is in a slightly different situation because he has to re-build. After Oliver Harrison, and a temporary fix with Dean Powell, Khan had gone for the unheralded Cuban Jorge Rubio. They seemed to gel in training but the subsequent 54-second debacle against Breidis Prescott meant someone else from the team was bound to be hit hard. That man was Rubio.
Khan has been in LA working with Freddie Roach - one of the world's very best trainers, who I think would be a good choice for Amir.
Roach has done wonders for Pacquiao and Israel Vazquez amongst many others - keeping their attacking nature and what they do best, but also tightening up their techniques. Roach famously worked with Steve Collins and together they came out with ways of defusing both Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn.
Conditioning
The Khan camp say that Jorge Rubio could still be involved. But if Freddie is chosen, he will be the man in charge. It will surely benefit Khan to get top, hard sparring in the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood too.
Trainers are vital to the success of their boxers; from the physical conditioning to the tactical coaching to ensuring their charge's mental state of mind is as efficient as possible. Plans are formulated, and if those don't work out on the night, then other ideas have to emerge.
The truly great trainers can alter outcomes with their quick-thinking strategies in the heat of battle. Some like Roach retain cool heads; others shout and scream as Richie Giachetti did with Mike Tyson; some such as Teddy Atlas go for the psychological pressure; others though choose a more physical approach, like Ronnie Davies did when slapping Eubank into action.
Trainers come in all shapes and sizes and with such varying amounts of experience that it is impossible to really compare them.
Legendary ones include Ray Arcel - who had 18 world champions from Jackie Kid Berg to Tony Zale to Roberto Duran; Jack Blackburn masterminded the great Joe Louis; Whitey Bimstein had Jack Dempsey and Rocky Graziano; Gil Clancy guided Ralph 'Tiger' Jones and Emile Griffith; Harry Wiley was the man behind the best ever, Sugar Ray Robinson; while Charley Goldman worked with Rocky Marciano.
Eddie Futch (
pictured) trained so many, most notably Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Riddick Bowe; Angelo Dundee's probably the most famous of all for his work with Muhammad Ali and later Sugar Ray Leonard; Emanuel Steward had the prize possession of Tommy Hearns, and more recently Lennox Lewis, who he inherited and improved. There were the Petronelli brothers who looked after Marvin Hagler, and many many more.
Others in the modern era include Lou Duva, Ronnie Shields and the Mayweathers - Floyd, Roger and Jeff. Joe Goose is a personal favourite; there's Tommy Brooks, Don Turner, Stacey McKinley - the list is endless.
Buddy McGirt is known for changing styles, like his work with Arturo Gatti, and how about Mexico's Rudy Perez who transformed Marco Antonio Barrera from fighter to boxer? Latest to don the pads is the popular Wayne McCullough.
Maestro
Back in Britain famous boxing names like Terry Lawless spring to mind: he trained Maurice Hope, Charlie Magri, and Cornelius Boza Edwards. There was Alan Minter's charge Bobby Neill, and Jimmy Tibbs who worked with Benn and Frank Bruno. Ernie Fossey was of course a great trainer and an all-round boxing maestro.
Brendan Ingle and Brian Hughes have done so much for kids in Sheffield and Manchester, and have produced good champions too. One can't forget Nobby Nobbs and his stable of consistent losers who always answer the call to duty.
Dean Powell is now very seasoned, Robert McCracken excellent, while Tunde Ajaye, Anthony Farnell, Oliver Harrison, Bobby Rimmer and Brian Lawrence are well-favoured. It will be a shame to see Billy Graham retire if that's his plan - a truly fabulous boxing man.
Johnny Eames gets so close to his fighters and shows much compassion; Jason Shinfield's reaction when Scott Heywood won the English title the other week shows how much trainers crave the victory too. Even Promoter Frank Maloney adores being in the corner.
Nothing in boxing can be tighter though than the father-son relationship. Over here Enzo Calzaghe (
pictured) has been magnificent for Joe, as well as the rest of his stable. Richie Woodhall worked with his dad Len (Richie is now training too) and in happier times, Scott Harrison had dad Peter alongside. The star duo at the moment are Nicky and Paul Cook who have just plotted their way to a world title.
Father-son teams can sometimes backfire - Roy Jones Jr's working relationship with his dad bit the dust and we all know about the two Floyds (Mayweather).
Bizarre
There can be bad moments - Stevie McGuire's dad has walked out of his boy's corner and John Fewkes ' father figure' Glyn Rhodes charged out of his camp when John failed making weight for a title challenge a couple of weeks ago.
There can also be times when the dads have just seen enough - Felix Trinidad's father saved his son from Bernard Hopkins and Darkie Smith got Steven 'out of there' against Ricky Hatton.
There have been more bizarre stories - former world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd trained with his Mum, and Welshman Dean Phillips used to spar with his two sisters!
One of the the most famous families Stateside are the Mosleys. Dad Jack and son, of course, Shane. They have been through their ups and downs but are back together and are looking to roll back the years.
Tune into
Sky Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning to see whether the Mosley's still have it. Their tactics will be crucial if they are to dissect the fiery, powerful Nicaraguan Ricardo Mayorga.
So while the boxers themselves are obviously the most important components; trainers are never far behind them, are they?
