Quote Originally Posted by greynotsoold View Post
I've watched some guys that are thought to be good trainers and thought that what they were doing was flat out stupid: an example would be the guy that trained Botha for the Lewis fight. In general I think that most make the mistake of working too far away from their bodies- hold their hands out too far- and thus the boxer doesn't get a feel of where he needs to be, where and how he needs to move his feet to be in effective range to land the punches he throws.
A trainer working the mitts can most certainly judge footwork if he is sensitive to what is going on in the ring, and how things move, what moves are being made. You should be able to see where your boxer is in the ring and how he is moving, just as you would if you were boxing against him. And you can feel it in the punches.
Very smart observation. In a similar vein, holding the two pads too far apart is another annoying trait, unless of course the boxer is being prepared to face an opponent with a head that's 2 foot wide.