Boxing trainer Eddie Futch during a training session in New Orleans, circa 1994. Among the fighters he trained are Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, and Trevor Berbick, four of the five men to defeat Muhammad Ali. (Photo by Chris Smith/Popperfoto/Getty Images)
DOG ASIDE:
Eddie Futch (August 9, 1911 – October 10, 2001) was a boxing trainer…..who among his credentials included training four of the five boxers who defeated Muhammad Ali…including Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick….as Futch also trained Riddick Bowe and Montell Griffin….when they handed future Hall of Fame fighters Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones, Jr., their first professional defeats.
In Baltimore, Maryland, the Futch Gym boxing gymnasium is named after the trainer Eddie Futch….where he prepared fighters to perform at the highest levels of the sport for several decades. Champions who worked under Futch’s tutelage include Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Michael Spinks, Alexis Arguello, Marlon Starling, Wayne McCullough, Montell Griffin and his first world champion fighter, Don Jordan, who was crowned world welterweight champion in 1958.
Eddie Futch had been heavyweight champion Larry Holmes’ trainer for years before he met light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks….whom Futch began to train as Spinks prepared for moving up to the heavyweight ranks….so, Futch was the trainer of both Holmes and Spinks just prior to their first fight….in which the legendary boxing trainer chose to be in Spinks corner for the fight and preparation….which really perplexed Holmes….who never really forgave Futch for his decision.
