Boxing

St. Petersburg's Birmingham to be named top trainer

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published February 8, 2005

In his 27 years as a trainer in St. Petersburg, Dan Birmingham has seen a lot of fighters come and go. But one who hasn't gone - Winky Wright - has helped take him to the top of his field.

The Boxing Writers Association of America is scheduled to announce its 2004 award winners Friday on the Web site www.bwaa.org and Birmingham said he has been told he is the trainer of the year. The BWAA's 80th annual awards dinner is May 6 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Between Wright, who has been trained by Birmingham from the beginning, and Jeff Lacy , who started with Birmingham at age 9, it was a banner year for the Ohio native.

Wright beat Shane Mosley twice, unifying the junior middleweight titles for the first time in 40 years. Lacy won the IBF super-middleweight crown and defended it.

Four title fights, four victories.

"It's the pinnacle of my career," Birmingham said. "To be mentioned with Buddy McGirt and Joe Goossen and Angelo Dundee and Emmanuel Steward is such a thrill for me."

Birmingham started training fighters in 1978 after a short-lived career as a boxer. Because he couldn't afford a gym, he trained them in nearby parks and had his first professional in 1986, Tampa's Leon Dixon .

"I never imagined this," he said. "I was really just trying to help them stay off the streets and stay off drugs and live the right way."

Along with David Santos and his trainer, Jim McLoughlin , Birmingham helped make the St. Petersburg Boxing Club one of the state's best amateur programs. When Wright turned pro, Birmingham served as his manager for a while, traveled overseas with him and worked diligently to get his prized pupil a title fight.

Birmingham said it was Wright's loyalty that helped make him the trainer he is today. While most of the big-name trainers in the world have taken on experienced fighters needing only a fine-tuning, Birmingham and Wright developed as pros together.

"Most guys, when they turn pro after an amateur career, usually seek another trainer, somebody with more experience," Birmingham said. "There's been guys that tried to tell Wink to do that. Some top trainers have even called him. But I'm lucky in that I have real loyal guys."

Because Wright and Birmingham were out chasing title shots, Lacy left the gym and went through a number of trainers before returning to St. Petersburg last year. Two fights later, Birmingham had him ready to beat Syd Vanderpool for his title.

"When a fighter loses, the first person everyone looks at is the trainer," Birmingham said. "So getting recognized like this, it's real nice."

SHINING DIAMOND: Santos' last two fights have been canceled, and he's hoping his next one won't be.

Needing a fight to tune up for a possible March bout and hoping to get one more title shot before he calls it quits, Santos is scheduled to headline Friday's One Punch Productions card at the Tampa West Shore Doubletree hotel.

Santos (44-6, 29 KOs) hasn't fought since Feb.15, when he beat Marty Robbins , and he had just two fights in 2003. Santos is scheduled to take on Ivan Alvarez (19-16, 8 KOs), who lost title fights to Paulie Ayala and Johnny Tapia in 1996 but has won only once in his past 12 fights.

Craig Robinson (6-0-2, 6 KOs) will fight Julio Jean (4-4-1, 2 KOs) at 160 pounds in the co-main event.

[Last modified February 8, 2005, 00:22:09]