Abel Sanchez is a Mexican-American boxing trainer. He is best known as the former coach of

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (Cyrillic: ; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time ...

, and has trained other boxers such as

Lupe Aquino Isaias Guadalupe "Lupe" Aquino (born 23 January 1963) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999. Aquino, known as "Lupe", turned pro in 1981 and won the WBC light middleweight title in 1987 with a decision over Duane ...

Terry Norris Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), Am ...

, and

Murat Gassiev Murat Georgievich Gassiev (russian: Мурат Георгиевич Гассиев; os, Гасситы Георгийы фырт Мурат; born 12 October 1993) is a Russian professional boxer from North Ossetia-Alania. He is a former unifi ...

Early life

Sanchez was born in

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

in 1955 and immigrated to San Marin, California with his family at the age of six.

Boxing trainer

The first three boxers he trained,

, and

Orlin Norris Orlin Levance Norris (born October 4, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 2005. He held the WBA cruiserweight title from 1993 to 1995. As an amateur, he won the National Golden Gloves title. He is the brothe ...

, all became world champions. He went on to train other world champions during the 1990s, including Miguel Ángel González, Paul Vaden,

Frans Botha Francois "Frans" Botha (born 28 September 1968) is a South African former professional boxer and kickboxer. He competed in boxing from 1990 to 2014, and is perhaps best known for winning the International Boxing Federation, IBF heavyweight tit ...

, and

Nana Konadu Nana Yaw Konadu Yeboah (born February 15, 1964) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2001. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC super-flyweight title from 1989 to 1990, and the WBA banta ...

Summit Gym and later career

In 2000, he built a house in

Big Bear, California Big Bear Valley is a valley in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The valley, in the San Bernardino Mountains, includes Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Fawnskin, Holcomb Valley, Sugarloaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which ref ...

to conduct fighters' training camps. The house, which is nicknamed ''The Summit'', was initially intended for Sanchez's friend and famed trainer

Emanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his care ...

to use to conduct training camps and was built at altitude in order to help athletes improve their

aerobic conditioning Aerobic conditioning is a process whereby the heart and lungs are trained to pump blood more efficiently, allowing more oxygen to be delivered to muscles and organs. Aerobic conditioning is the use of continuous, rhythmic movement of large muscle ...

. However, the training center remained largely unused while Sanchez recovered from a heart attack in 2001. This changed when

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...

rented it to prepare for his 2008

bout Bout can mean: People *Viktor Bout, suspected arms dealer *Jan Everts Bout, early settler to New Netherland *Marcel Bout Musical instruments * The outward-facing round parts of the body shape of violins, guitars, and other stringed instrumen ...

with

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Philip ...

. Shortly afterwards, Sanchez met with

and returned to training after being impressed with Golovkin's talent. Sanchez and Golovkin split after nine years due to a money row following Golovkin's $100m deal with

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

. Since then, he's worked with other active boxers like

Sullivan Barrera Sullivan Barrera (born 25 February 1982) is a Cuban professional boxer. As an amateur, he won the middleweight gold medal at the 2000 AIBA Junior World Championships. He challenged once for the WBA light heavyweight title in 2018. Amateur car ...

Denis Shafikov Denis Fuatovich Shafikov (russian: Денис Фуатович Шафиков, ba, Шафиҡов Денис Фуат улы, Şafiqov Denis Fuat ulı; born 3 June 1985) is a Russian professional boxer. He held the European super-lightweight t ...

Michel Soro Michel Soro (born 30 October 1987) is a French professional boxer. He challenged for the WBO and IBO light middleweight titles in 2012, and the WBA interim super welterweight title in 2017. At regional level, he held the EBU European middl ...

Alfredo Angulo Alfredo Angulo López (born August 11, 1982) is a Mexican professional boxer who held the WBO interim light middleweight title from 2009 to 2010. As an amateur he represented Mexico at the 2004 Olympics, reaching the first round of the mid ...

, Joe Joyce and

Arsen Goulamirian Arsen Goulamirian ( hy, Արսեն Գուլամիրյան; born 4 October 1987) is an Armenian-born French professional boxer who has held the WBA (Super) cruiserweight title since 2019. Professional career Early career Arsen turned profession ...

Recognition

In 2015, Sanchez won the Futch-Condon, an award given by the

Boxing Writers Association of America The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) was originally formed in 1926 as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York. The association's purpose is to promote better working conditions for boxing writers, as well as hold its writers ...

to honor the best trainer of the year.

Other ventures

Sanchez owned and operated a construction company until 2008.

References

American boxing trainers Mexican boxing trainers Living people Sportspeople from Tijuana People from Big Bear Lake, California 1955 births Mexican emigrants to the United States {{Mexico-boxing-bio-stub