Experience is what matters when talking to veteran boxing trainers Bobby Benton and Aaron Navarro.
These two coaches have worked with former junior welterweight titleholder Regis Prograis and currently have junior lightweight beltholder O’Shaquie Foster.
Benton and Navarro have worked with all types of fighters out of Main Street Boxing Gym in Houston, from standout top-tier prospects to unassuming fighters who are trying to emerge and do something with themselves, even if they are limited.
Benton, the lead voice in the corner, and Navarro, a well-respected cutman, are philosophical about what makes a good boxing trainer. These kinds of conversations often lead to arguments, not conclusions.
Without hesitation, Benton emphasized experience as the thing that sets a good trainer apart from the others. Navarro had his own thoughts.
“Making your way up from the bottom,” Navarro said. “You start at kindergarten and work your way all the way through up to where you’re in college, and so on and so forth.”
Navarro is using a metaphor, but his point is well-taken. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up to fighters at the top of the sport. If you don’t, things can occur that you haven’t encountered yet.
Being a good coach is just as much about the process and steps taken as it is about knowing when a subtle hand drops. There is a phrase thrown around sparingly, and it is viewed in the boxing world as a true compliment: If you are a “a real guy” or “a real boxing guy,” you are inside the sport in ways that demand respect. Maybe you didn’t aspire to be “a real guy,” but once the experience has been had, it can’t be taken from you.
“You can’t skip the line in this sport and be legitimate,” Navarro said. “You have to put in your work and pay your dues and learn from the ones before you. There’s really just no way around it, if you’re really going to be a boxing guy.”
Benton believes understanding the fighter also is part of the fabric of a great trainer. You can’t have a cookie-cutter approach and believe one style will work for everyone.
“You have to figure out the fighters,” Benton said. “They’re all different. You can’t treat them all the same. [You’re] figuring out what fuels them and what fires them up, what slows them down, and then [you’re] going from there.”
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