Boxing Notes : Tyson’s New Trainer Has Little Experience

Where else but in boxing can a kid who hangs around the gym and makes friends with the right people wind up training the heavyweight champion of the world?

A lot of boxing people are shocked -- but not surprised -- that the apparent winner of the Replace Kevin Rooney sweepstakes is Aaron Snowell, a young man from Pottsville, Pa., who has never fought in a boxing ring, never trained a fighter by himself and has few, if any, apparent qualifications for the job.

Of course, that doesn’t make him that much different from Rooney, who had trained only one other fighter, journeyman featherweight Pedro Alindato. But at least Rooney had the experience of 26 pro fights and the blessing of Tyson’s mentor, Cus D’Amato. Snowell has the blessing of Don King, and, with Tyson right now, that is just as good. He is also the type to just do his job and keep his mouth shut, a subtlety Rooney was never able to master.

Snowell, along with Tyson friend and former roommate Rory Holloway, was said to be overseeing Tyson’s workouts at Johnny Tocco’s gym in Las Vegas, Nev., on an interim basis while a permanent trainer was found. But now, a lot of boxing people think Snowell is the man, for several reasons. For one, he is black, a very important qualification, according to people familiar with the search. King has spent many months convincing Tyson to surround himself with an all-black entourage, so how believable would King’s rap sound to Tyson if he suddenly hired, say, a Richie Giachetti or an Angelo Dundee?

Another reason is that Snowell, who broke into boxing only when he was befriended by Tim Witherspoon a few years back, can be controlled easily by King. Snowell demonstrated his loyalty to King in 1986, when Witherspoon bolted the King camp in a money dispute. Snowell, who was taught the basics of training by Slim Robinson, Witherspoon’s trainer, decided to stay with King. Now, he apparently is getting his reward, but according to trainers who have worked for King, that is probably all he will get.

“King doesn’t believe in paying trainers the 10 percent they’re entitled to,” Robinson said. “But Aaron won’t ask for much money. If King pays him $10,000, he’ll be happy.”

“They’ll just pay the kid what they want to pay him,” said another trainer who insisted on anonymity. “He can’t teach Tyson anything, anyway.”

Snowell did not return phone calls Wednesday, but he likes to say he was Witherspoon’s trainer -- a claim Witherspoon denied Wednesday. “He never trained me. He was just around the gym,” Witherspoon said. “He never fought a day in his life.”

Robinson was equally negative on Snowell’s qualifications to train Tyson. “He’s stepping out of his class, really. I taught him basic things, like how to teach a fighter to jab and such, but there are some things you can’t teach a guy if you were never a fighter.”

How much teaching does Tyson actually need? Probably not much. But the danger in using a new trainer is that often, in their desire to succeed, they overtrain the fighter to the point of weakness. A case in point is that of New York trainer Hector Roca, who came into boxing with the dubious qualifications of having been a bicycle racer in his native Panama. Somehow, he talked himself into the corners of Iran Barkley, Michael Olajide and Buddy McGirt. All three fighters went into major fights severely overtrained by Roca, and all lost. Not surprisingly, all fired Roca immediately afterward.

“These new guys, they train a fighter to death,” Robinson said.

So far, Tyson’s training has consisted of some running and floor work at Tocco’s to shed the excess weight he has picked up in his six months of inactivity. And King et al may believe that Tyson will not need much training to beat an opponent such as Frank Bruno, whom Tyson fights Feb. 25. But to hand control of the heavyweight champion to an inexperienced trainer such as Snowell is like giving the New York Giants head coaching job to team owner Wellington Mara’s favorite water boy. But this is boxing, where anything -- and anyone -- goes.

Some writers found it hard to believe that Tomas Molinares was not at Tuesday’s news conference to announce his Feb. 4 WBA welterweight title defense against Mark Breland because he had missed his flight out of Colombia, as promoter Dan Duva said. Especially since Molinares said last month he could not make weight and was retiring.

When questioned about Molinares’ absence, Duva scoffed that boxing writers were the most cynical people on earth. True, but Wednesday night Molinares’ manager announced that his fighter was suffering from a “severe depression” and the post-holiday blahs would render him unable to fight Breland. Just because you’re cynical and suspicious doesn’t mean you’re always wrong.

Anthony Hembrick, the 165-pounder who missed his chance at Olympic gold in Seoul when he and his trainers, Ken Adams and Hank Johnson, missed a bus, gets a chance for retribution when a U.S. amateur team -- minus any other Olympians -- takes on the Koreans in a dual meet Saturday in Atlantic City.

Hembrick will turn pro later this year, but not surprisingly, has ruled out Adams and Johnson as his pro trainers. “They couldn’t even get me to an amateur fight on time,” Hembrick said. “And they don’t know anything about the pro game. They can learn, but they’re not going to learn on me.”

Back in November, Mike Trainer said a Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns rematch would never happen if Bob Arum insisted on being involved. But now talks are going on ever so quietly among Trainer, Arum and Caesars Palace to do the bout in late May or early June.

Nothing like a $5 million payday to take the hunger out of a fighter. Donny Lalonde, who earned that sum for being stopped by Leonard in November, has told the WBC he “needs more rest” and will forgo the first crack at the now-vacant light-heavyweight title he lost to Leonard. So Tony Willis and Dennis Andries, numbers two and three, will fight for the crown in February.