The Art of Training Boxing Champions (w/ Thell Torrence)

Boxing Hall of Fame icon and businessman Thell Torrence agreed to speak to me about his unique path to becoming one of most celebrated fight trainers in history. Mr. Torrence recounted his childhood in Camden, Arkansas, his time in the navy, and the circumstances that led to him become a boxer. Mr. Torrence also spoke about meeting and being trained by legendary boxing trainer Eddie Futch, before becoming a trainer himself. We spoke about how he came to own Hoover Street Gym in Los Angeles for decades as well as the many champions who came up in the gym. Finally, Mr. Torrence shared some of his unique experiences and memories as the trainer of such notable fighters as Ken Norton, Riddick Bowe, Hasim Rahman, Mike McCallum, Wayne McCullough, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill, & Vassiliy Jirov.

Welcome, Thell. Thanks for joining me. 

Thank you, my friend. 

Now, you're from Camden, Arkansas. That's where you grew up. What can you tell me about what was going on there at the time when you were there?

Well, Camden was a unique place. We had a lot of… good athletes came out there… Our number one thing, actually, was baseball. I didn't like baseball. It was a little too slow. Then it was a uh football, which was great you know because you know it's uh physical but it's uh mentally well then basketball was great for me also because I always was very quick and I Idid quite well with that and so I kind of focused on basketball and football and that's kind of how I got started and from there. Uh, I had a lot of scholarships, had no money. Didn't want to put the in a very awkward position. So, I had a talk with my brothers and I told them, I said, "Listen, I'm going to go in the military for four years only. When I get out, you know, by that time, the first year, one of my brothers would be out. the next year, uh, my other brother be out and they could kind of assist financially and helping the other, you know, get out of school and go to college and whatever. So, uh, then I moved to LA and the res