I have to tell you, some of the unsung heroes of our sport are the guys who work behind the scenes, the trainers and the cut-men. Many of the all-time greats are no longer among us, seeing fit to ply their trade in that great squared circle in the sky, but let’s give credit to those who are:

As far as cut-men go, two of the best around are Joe Souza and Chuck Bodak. You rarely see a bad cut stop a fight with these two in the corner. Kudos to both, and apologies to anyone I’m sure I overlooked.

As for the trainers, while most don’t teach defense anymore, and few teach the lost art of counter-punching, motivating a fighter is still the most important lesson to be taught. One of the best was my old and dear friend Eddie Futch, who probably forgot more about boxing and boxing techniques in one year then the average trainer learns in a lifetime.

Who are the best trainers around? Angelo Dundee is getting on in years, but is still not notch.

Jesse Reid is highly respected and will be inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame this October.

Joe Goossen can handle almost any problem that arises during a fight.

But it’s a couple of the younger trainers who are going to make it to the Hall of Fame, both ex-fighters, and both have learned a lot about handling talent and motivation.

I refer to Buddy McGirt who in my mind is second only to Freddie Roach. McGirt pretty much learned his skills on his own, and that takes a very high degree of understanding and intellect.

Roach, who I feel is currently the best, knows how to handle the fighters sometime fragile psyche, knows how to train a fighter for a particular opponent, and most important get top marks for credibility for his honesty with the press.

Of the two, McGirt was a better fighter (Roach was more of a brawler with heart, AKA Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti). On that basis, you would think McGirt would be the better trainer, and perhaps someday he will be.

Want to know what made Freddy Roach number one? His willingness and ability to learn the teaching of his mentor, the late great, Eddie Futch. Futch was not only the trainer of champions but a champion trainer of trainers as well. As long as Freddy Roach is with us, and hopefully passes down that knowledge to his fighters, we will always have a stable of top-notch trainers around.***

Eddie worked with other trainers, Thell Torrence who is still active and developing a decent stable, but for some reason, he hasn’t become the trainer that Roach is, yet…Sometimes it takes a while for the message to sink in. It’s like baseball, sometimes it takes time to learn how to hit behind a runner. In short, with some people all the lessons come together quicker then others.

There is also a case to be made for motivating the fighters, and that’s something that perhaps is difficult to teach. The instinct is either there or it isn’t.

And maybe that combination is what makes for a future for other top notch ring instructors.***

Word just in: Evander Holyfield returns to training in Houston, the first week in September, with hopes of one fight this year and a title shot early next year.***

Please help me with my new book. Send all jokes, quips and boxing oddities to Rngsports@aol.com, thanks, and members of the boxing media are free to send this most welcome information as well.***

Update: We are again taking orders for autographed copies of my new book, “OFF THE CANVAS”. Check our website for details. So far I have heard only good things about the book. Be aware that there is about a 3-week backlog on orders. It could be faster, to get non-autographed delivery “Off the Canvas” which is also available on the web at Authorhouse.com, ID#22873, or through major on line book stores like Borders, Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks or Amazon.com.***

Agree or disagree, feel free to express your views.

Glove2Glove:

Herb Platzner, father of RS.com scribe Harrin is having heart problems. Prayers for his health would be much appreciated.

WWII hero and founder and past President of the World Boxing Hall of Fame has suffered a stroke in Southern California. Please pray for his quick return to health.***

Please say prayers for the return to health of Helen Wambolt, wife of our East Coast World Boxing Hall of Fame writer Danny Wambolt. Cards will also be most welcome.

Prayers are requested for Donna Jean Landers, boxing fan from Oklahoma, who has been fighting cancer for three years. She needs your help my friends.

Please say prayers for wife of RS.com writer Marty Carson (auto accident) who is having health problems) of Indiana. Marty is a long time friend and a boxing expert.

Please say prayers for the return to health of Orazio Esposito, father of our photographer Richard Esposito.

Sandy Johnson a staff member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission is fighting breast cancer. A call, e-mail or card, along with your prayers would really do a lot to raise the spirits of an old friend.

Special prayers go out to Mills Lane for his complete recovery. Mills, who suffered a stroke a few years back may be down, but knowing him, he’s far from out.

Prayers for the return to health of Don Donelson, father of writer Tom, and Gene Sebastian, brother of former middleweight champ Billy Soose. Both are suffering from congestive heart disease. And to Arthur Terciera, father of writer Keith, also having heart related problems.

Prayers are requested for Ringsports.com photo journalist Dale Hausner of Arizona, who is having problems with cancer.

Prayers are requested for Kenneth E. Ryther father of our photo journalist Amy Green. Kenneth is suffering from Parkinson’s.

Prayers for Ed “Whitey” Hadar, a former boxer who is having some serious health problems.

Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.

Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.

Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.

Touching on politics briefly: First I hate stupidity, and when the Congressional Budget Office tells us that the Bush tax cut was heavily tilted towards the rich. Duh, I have to wonder who couldn’t figure that out, and hope he/she wasn’t a college graduate. Even the President and his staff acknowledged that, and his stated reason was that it would trickle down, boost our economy and create more jobs.

Ok, they were lower paying jobs then those we lost to out-sourcing, but I suppose you have to accurately say that some new jobs have been created, albeit not as many as most of us would have liked.***

Let’s give credit where credit is due, intelligence on both sides of the Ocean have helped us take down a number of top Al Qaeda officials, get needed information from them and put their terrorist network into somewhat of a mess.

But that in itself doesn’t prevent these loonies from attacking us (or anyone else). And while it’s great news, I have to wonder why it comes to light only in an election year. Shouldn’t we have been going after this info immediately after 9/11, and if we were, why is all the major arrests and information gathering about them happening less then three months before the Presidential election? I’d have felt a lot safer if I knew they were caught when they were caught. And maybe, the names of these informants shouldn’t have been made public at all, and hurts our fight against terrorism. For the President, it seems like a lose – lose situation.

The national security info may have been available before, and used in the past, but why does the public get to find out about it so close to a critical election? I want to doubt that it is politically motivated, but in this case it’s difficult.

I hate to put a negative spin on obvious great news, but this is a question that really should be answered. I know some of these guys were captured awhile back. Yes, it could be a coincidence, but I find it very hard to believe they just started naming names and providing the details now.

My friends, the one thing we shouldn’t be doing is playing politics with the lives of the people, and I sincerely hope that’s not what’s going on now. It’s great that the intelligence networks are doing their jobs, but the voters and the American people deserve to know when it happens, not right before an election. And if you risk national security, the names shouldn’t be released at all. The warnings are fine, because it’s better to be careful then dead. But why wait so long to issue them? You don’t play politics with peoples lives.***

Marie Antoinette said to the hungry masses “let them eat cake”. To paraphrase this to all the terrorists I say: “Let them eat pork!”***

Agree or disagree, I’d like to hear from you.