Eddy Reynoso finally getting the credit he deserves as boxing's top trainer

Watch any fighter that Eddy Reynoso has trained for any period of time and one thing that is immediately obvious is that all of them know how to throw the left hook.

Ryan Garcia stopped Luke Campbell with a perfect left hook to the ribs on Jan. 2 to become the interim WBC lightweight champion. On Saturday, Oscar Valdez repeatedly hurt Miguel Berchelt with his left hook and ended the fight in the 10th round with a crushing hook to Berchelt’s head.

Though Reynoso calls the left hook an important punch and “a staple of Mexican boxing,” he doesn’t see it as the primary reason why just two months into the year and he’s all but locked up the 2021 Trainer of the Year award.

Reynoso is quickly gaining recognition as the finest trainer in boxing. And given he’s mentored the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world since the day Canelo Alvarez sauntered into that gym in Guadalajara, Mexico, oh so many years ago, Reynoso certainly belongs in that conversation.

In trying to describe how good of a coach Don Shula was, the late Bum Phillips said, “He can take his’n and beat your’n. Or he can take your’n and beat his’n.”

That’s what Reynoso has been doing repeatedly over the last several years. He guided Alvarez to the top of the mountain from scratch, but has also overhauled talented fighters such as Garcia and Valdez, who are highly talented but were in need of a fine-tuning.

Reynoso will work Alvarez’s corner on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, DAZN) in Miami when Alvarez defends his WBA-WBC super middleweight titles against upstart challenger Avni Yildirim.

[Watch Canelo-Yildirim on DAZN: Sign up now to stream the fight live]

For Reynoso, what he considers the three fundamentals of life are what make up his boxing philosophy and what he believes has led him to the dizzying heights he’s achieved.

He’s 44 years old and at the pinnacle of his professional career with nothing but bright prospects ahead. But he wouldn’t be where he is, he said, were it not for discipline, responsibility and perseverance.

“I believe those are the three fundamentals of life, and if you have success in those three things, you can accomplish whatever you want to in your life,” Reynoso told Yahoo Sports. “That’s what I ask of everyone who [fights for me].”