Top 5 Greatest Boxer-Trainer Duos

Boxing is not a sport known for compassion. It never has been. However, the night Futch retired a virtually battered and blind Frazier in the closing stages of their October 1st, 1975 Thrilla in Manila showdown, Dutch provided a wise and touching example of a trainer prioritizing the well-being of his fighter above everything else.

After 14 punishing rounds, Futch refused to let Frazier go out for the final round. “Sit down, son, it’s all over,” he told Frazier quietly. “But no one will ever forget what you did here today.” More compassionate words have never been spoken in a boxing ring.

4) Freddie Roach-Manny Pacquiao

Freddie Roach remains one of the top trainers in the sport today. His eight-division champion, Manny Pacquiao, remains his greatest student. With his vicious left hand and explosive athleticism, Pacquiao had great God-given gifts for Roach to work with. When Pac-man entered Roach’s Wild Card gym, he only had a big left hand. He looked for the big knockout blow, excluding everything else.

Roach made Pacquiao an all-around great and one of the most exciting fighters to grace the sport. Built on the back of his athleticism and speed, Pacquiao developed an educated use of angles, footwork to match his hand speed, and a devastating right hand to complement his fierce straight left.

3) Ray Arcel-Roberto Duran

Ray Arcel’s legendary training career began in the 1920s, and a list of champions he trained include Benny Leonard, Barney Ross, Henry Armstrong, and Ezzard Charles. However, after a life-threatening encounter with the dark side of boxing, Arcel retired in the 50’s.

Twenty years later, the prospect of training a young, ferocious brawler from Panama named Roberto Duran lured Arcel back to the sport. With a nickname of “Hands of Stone” and the talent and attributes to back up the billing, Duran was molded into the ultimate fighting specimen. He just needed the right guidance to live up to his tremendous potential. Duran received that from one of the brightest minds in boxing history in a match made in heaven.

Arcel helped Duran develop the defensive and in-fighting ability to become one of the most multi-dimensional technicians in boxing history, with smart layers added to his dangerous, pressure-fighting style.

Duran loved food and drinks and, with his manic mood swings, was not a fan of morning roadwork. With the assistance of Freddie Brown, Arcel kept Duran focused during a stretch that cemented Duran as arguably the greatest lightweight ever before Duran moved up and dethroned pound-for-pound king and all-time great welterweight Sugar Ray Leonard in one of the all-time greatest victories.

2) Emanuel Steward-Tommy Hearns

Later in his career, Emanuel Steward was the man for high-profile fighters looking to sharpen rough edges. The most notable of such charges were heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.

However, Steward’s status as one of the all-time greats was built at a grassroots level as he developed Detroit’s Kronk Gym into one of history’s most renowned boxing gyms. Steward became an elite trainer in both amateur and professional boxing, carrying on the development of his fighters in the pro ranks.

Thomas Hearns was Steward’s star pupil. Under Steward’s guidance, Hearns went from a skinny prospect with a stick-and-move style in the amateurs, not renowned for being a power puncher, to being taught about leverage using his 6ft1inch height and 78-inch reach to not only become a master of long-range boxing but also one of the most fearsome punchers in welterweight and super welterweight history.

Hearns had one of the best jabs boxing has ever seen, a dynamite right hand and a vicious left hook to the body. He was nearly impossible to outbox and was Steward’s creation—an embodiment of Steward’s craft as a trainer. Like any great boxing trainer-fighter relationship, Steward and Hearns helped each other to evolve and cemented one another’s legacy.

1) Jack “Chappie” Blackburn-Joe Louis

Once Joe Louis was ready to turn professional, Jack Blackburn was hired as his primary trainer to develop Louis into a champion. Blackburn saw the potential in Louis, with natural punching power that could not be taught. However, Louis was still green and not nuanced enough in the finer aspects of the Sweet Science. Blackburn taught him how to master accuracy, balance, and timing, as well as how to generate his true punching power and how to move and control the ring, and Louis became one of the hardest hitters of all time and one of the most fluidly devastating combination punchers ever. Louis became one of the greatest fighters ever, with the most dominant reign in heavyweight history, as he reigned for an unprecedented 12 years as heavyweight champion of the world.

Louis and Blackburn became close friends and called each other “Chappie.” However, the boxing relationship between the two will last in history.

Louis defended his title a record 25 times. Blackburn did not live long enough to see it all through with Louis, dying on April 24th, 1942. Following Blackburn’s death, Louis said: “Jack started me in the boxing game and followed me all the way through. He made a fighter of me and did more for me than anyone else.”