Eddie Futch
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 American
|
| Born |
August 9, 1911 Hillsboro, Mississippi |
| Died | October 10, 2001 (aged 90) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Boxing |
Eddie Futch (August 9, 1911 – October 10, 2001) was a boxing trainer. Among the fighters he trained are Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, and Trevor Berbick, four of the five men to defeat Muhammad Ali. 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.
Futch was born in Hillsboro, Mississippi, but moved with his family to Detroit, Michigan when he was five years old. They lived in the Black Bottom section of the town. When Futch was a teenager, he played semi-professional basketball with the Moreland YMCA Flashes. He planned to attend the YMCA College School at the University of Chicago, but when the Great Depression happened, he was forced to continue his job at the Wolverine Hotel to support his family. Here is where he trained promoter and trainer Don Arnott
In 1932, Futch won the Detroit Athletic Association Lightweight Championship, and in 1933, he won the Detroit Golden Gloves Championship. He trained at the same gym as Joe Louis, the Brewster Recreation Center Gym, and often sparred with the future champion. A heart murmur prevented Futch from turning professional, and he began training boxers.
Eddie Futch was an outstanding trainer, perhaps the greatest who ever lived. He prepared fighters to perform their best 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.
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