THE FACE OF BOXING Canelo vs. Crawford The Trainers Photographs by Wojtek Urbanek • Text by Thomas Hauser
W hen Canelo Alvarez meets Terence Crawford in the ring on September 13, he’ll bear the imprint of the men who taught him. The story of 13-year-old Saul Alvarez walking into a gym in Guadalajara and falling under the spell of Jose “Chepo” Reynoso is boxing lore. Chepo nicknamed his young charge “Canelo” and taught him the rudiments of boxing. After the young man turned pro, Chepo trained and managed him. A lot of trainers can take a good fighter and make him better. Very few trainers can build an elite fighter from scratch. The best trainers have the ability to recognize and develop talent. They’re teachers with a knowledge of boxing, the ability to
I t’s often said that the fighter makes the trainer, not the other way around. But no matter how much natural ability Terence Crawford had, someone had to teach him to box. When Crawford was 7 years old, his father brought him to the C.W. Boxing Club in Omaha, where a local fighter named Brian McIntyre was training. “BoMac” had 21 fights as a pro and lost 14 of them. Early in his career, he fought at 206 pounds. By the end, it was 307. He was knocked out nine times. McIntyre was trained by Midge Minor and, from time to time, assisted his mentor in the gym, working with boys who were learning to box. Occasionally, he helped out
communicate and an understanding of human nature. And they care about their fighters. “We are not famous or anything,” Chepo said long ago. “But we know how to work. Fights are won in the gym. In the ring, they just raise your hand.” In recent years, Chepo’s son, Eddy, has taken on the primary training role for Canelo. But Chepo is still the patriarch of Team Alvarez. Before each fight, wherever he is, he gathers those around him for a short prayer: “God, please, let no one be badly hurt. If we win, we win. It is in your hands.” Speaking of Chepo and Eddy, Canelo says, “It is beautiful to have a family like this. I am who I am because of them.”
with Crawford. By the time Minor died in 2018, BoMac was Terence’s lead trainer with help from Esau Dieguez. “Crawford could work his own corner on fight night,” Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler says. “That’s not a knock on BoMac. That’s a tribute to Bud.” But McIntyre motivates. He knows which buttons to push. And consider the role he’ll play on September 13 when, having readied his charge for combat, he’ll insert Crawford’s mouthpiece, pat Bud on the back and speak the last words that Bud hears before the bell for Round 1 rings. Meanwhile, Crawford says of BoMac: “He’s my man. He’s always got my back. We’re cool together.”
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