by Ian Sims: Just as boxing has its fair share of glorified fighters that fans flock to in herds there’s also a number of marquee trainers in the sport that always seem to end up with a handful of the elite talent.
How many times have we seen Emmanuel Stewart voluntarily being brought in to retool and refine a struggling career or Freddy Roach being handed the task of saving a fallen prospect rather fans acknowledge it or not boxing has adopted this idea that you can’t be effective at the upper crust of the sport without bringing in a more notable gun for hire.
Over the past few years there have been an overwhelming number of times where fighters break on to the world class level and almost as if its standard-issue fans start to suggest a more notable name to replace the John Doe trainer that developed the fighter Now, there has been a few instances where these John Doe trainers have never handled top notch talent and they’ve gracefully handed over there prized possessions to someone who has the intellect and experience needed to develop them at the elite level.
While everyone is debating back and forth about fighter of the year and fight of the year one of the soft pedal stories of 2011 has to be the success of the John Doe trainer. Virgil Hunter the unknown strategic mastermind who’s quietly crafted Andre Ward in to arguably one of the top five fighters in the sport. Anne Wolfe the militant former fighter turned trainer who rejuvenated James Kirkland after most boxing fans had written him. Last but not least there’s Barry Hunter the motivator who screamed “don’t let this man have a celebration party in your city” to Lamont Peterson during his upset victory over Amir Khan.
Virgil Hunter has done a masterful job developing Andre Ward, who most fans have unanimously voted as fighter of the year. Hunter hasn’t had the privilege of training any other elite fighters aside from Ward, nonetheless if you’ve ever heard him analyze anything Boxing related you’ll quickly realize that he knows the sport like the back of his hand. With Hunter being based out of California it won’t be long until we see some familiar names flocking over to his gym…..mark my word.
Anne Wolfe, my own personal favorite, who after a brief spit with her golden ticket, James Kirkland, she was quickly handed the task of resuscitating the Jr. Middleweight contender after a short lived stay with Kenny Adams in Vegas. The story of Kirkland-Wolfe is imperative to the subject because it reiterates the theme. James comes back after a long layoff and is paired up Kenny Adams, the high end trainer famous for coaching the United States Olympic team, and unfortunately Kirkland is upset by a feather fisted unknown. James then abandons the glamor of training in Vegas and his brand name trainer to reunite with Anne Wolfe and her unorthodox methods.
Barry Hunter is in my opinion more than a trainer because it’s very rare so see men like him who take on the task of keeping underprivileged kids off the street, that added to the fact that he’s a well-schooled boxing coach only enhances his creditability. He’s developed the Peterson brothers (Lamont and Anthony) since they were budding amateurs all the way into elite contenders and world champions. Hunter the manager-trainer was heavily criticized when he opted to pass on fighting Amir Khan in the UK for an ESPN date with Victor Cayo, but it proved to be a better decision with Peterson getting a controversial but well deserved win over Khan later in the year.