Eddie Futch & Joe Frazier (1974)
NO WALL OF FAME SANS “EDDIE”
San Francisco, CA– Having been introduced to Eddie Futch by fellow Hall of Fame inductee (writer) Jack Fiske, it was the mid 1970s. Eddie was still working with Joe Frazier and I had just graduated from high school. Futch was in town doing a press junket. At one time, San Francisco got all the pre-fight media meetings mainly because of Fiske, born Jacob Finkelstein in 1917, was as respected as a writer as Futch was as a trainer. With the third Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight being hyped up in a hotel ballroom here in town, Futch and Frazier were there, but for the life of me I can’t recall Ali being there. That may have had a lot to do with my watching Ali train so many times at Newman’s Gym on Leavenworth St., located in an area frequented by pimps, hoes, and junkies.
NEVER SAW EDDIE BRUSH ANYBODY OFF!
Both quiet and patient, Futch was about the most eloquent soft spoken trainer I think I ver interacted with. Even when the s*it was hitting the fan, Eddie remained cool and calm. As well spoken as Emanuel Steward is, once in a while the Kronk Gym Goldfather would blow a fuse like the night his charge Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson. But having watched Eddie work dozens of fights, I never saw him lose it. It was the same when he was in the gym, as bad as some of his guys would screw up, Eddie never raised his voice in my presence.
FUTCH’S ROOTS WERE IN THE SOUTH
Born in Hillsboro, Mississippi in 1910, Eddie was five when he moved to Motown AKA Detroit, MI. It was at the Brewster Recreation Center Gym, a facility utilized by future heavyweight great Joe Louis and located in the same neighborhood brought us Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross, The Supremes of musical fame. Eddie told me that he had even sparred with the future World heavyweight champ. Winning a couple of Chicago Golden Glove titles, Futch would have turned professional had he not had a heart murmur. Realizing he couldn’t pursue life as a fighter, Futch turned to training fighters. From 1947 to 1950, Eddie trained the man who created Motown Records, none other than bantamweight (118 lbs) Berry Gordy. Realizing he wasn’t championship material, Berry went to work in the auto industry in Detroit after going 12-3-2, 5 KOs. It was on the assembly line at General Motors that Gordy got the idea to use that business mode when it came to making records. When Eddie died in 2001 at the age of 90, Gordy and I had a five-minute conversation that combined music and boxing.
Eva Futch & Berry Gordy
BEAT ALI TWICE OFFICIALLY
Some of the fighters he worked turned out to be Muhammad Ali’s greatest nemesis. There was Joe Frazier of course, with whom Futch was the chief second after the passing of Yank Durham, for the Thrilla’ In Manila, the third fight between the two men. His not allowing a nearly blind Frazier to come out for the 14th round, this when Ali was, in his words, “As close to death as I’ve ever been.” But Joe was taking a beating and his swollen eyes made him a sitting duck for Ali who was letting it all hang out in an attempt to stop Frazier. Their trilogy started in 1971 with Frazier winning a UD 15. Ali’s next loss was in 1972, suffered a broken jaw, courtesy of Ken Norton, who Futch handled. Two years after their first encounter, and after Frazier had lost the heavyweight championship to George Foreman, Ali would get revenge with UD 12 victory. With Joe in bad trouble towards the end of the second round, referee Tony Perez thought he heard the bell and stopped round two about 10-12 seconds early. When the round resumed, Joe had cleared his head enough to finish the stanza, something he may not have accomplished had Perez not gaffed.
IT WAS ALL ABOUT A HANDSHAKE & EDDIE’S WORD!
Some of the ring greats he worked with were light heavyweight champ Bob Foster, multi-division champ Mike McCallum, Alexis Argüello, a champion at 126, 130 & 135 lbs., as well as the first light heavyweight to win the heavyweight title Michael Spinks, welterweight king Marlon Starling, light heavyweight titleholder Montell Griffin, and last but not least, the under achieving World heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe. Not one of these fighters ever signed a contract with Eddie. Nor can I recall a fighter walking away from Eddie, but Futch did end relationships with prominent fighters, most notably Riddick Bowe. In his late 70s and early 80s, Futch, who at one time thought there was a possibility that Bowe could end up being the greatest heavyweight champion ever, walked out on Bowe because of a lack of discipline and his weight gain between fights.
THE ROACH TOUTS EDDIE AS “THE GREATEST”
Freddie Roach, renowned trainer of Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan to name just two fighters in his stable, learned all that he knows from Futch who took Roach under his wing after his club fighting days were done. In addition to the the Pacman and Britain’s Khan, Roach also trains the overrated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
THE LAST YEARS WITH EDDIE FUTCH
While I was doing a weekly radio and TV show at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, I would invite Futch and his wife Eva, who was many years younger than Eddie, to the IP for an interview, I’d offer them dinner in one of the hotel’s finer restaurants. Always gracious, I would call the eatery and tell them to put Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Futch on a “comp” list. Having offered Eddie this a few times, he only took me up on it once. When I saw him in a wheelchair circa 1999 at an outdoor event promoted just outside of Las Vegas by Dan Goossen, I was both saddened and curious.
FUTCH WAS HONEST UNTIL THE END
Being the nosy person that I am, I asked Eddie if he was hurting physically and he answered to the negative. This outdoor spa resort had a ring better than a 1/2 mile form the front door of the hotel, thus the wheelchair. “I’m starting to slip mentally, Pedro. My memory and recall fades at times.” With Eva by his side until the end, Eddie Futch, who besides being a great teacher of boxing was a fine man. Eddie left us on October 10, 2001. His services at Caesars Palace, if my memory serves me correctly, was a turn out of stars from both boxing and the cinema. In closing, like few other people I’ve been able to meet in my life, they threw away the mold that formed the great Eddie Futch!
Pedro Fernandez