The genius of Angelo Dundee

Brian Canty

Born in Philadelphia to immigrant Italian parents, Angelo Mirena was one of three brothers who would change their name to Dundee. Joe, the eldest had adopted it as his nom de guerre when he became a professional boxer, and Chris, who would become a manager and promoter, also took the name. When Angelo Mirena was discharged from the army after the Second World war and hooked up with Chris in New York’s busy fight scene, it seemed only natural that he would call himself Dundee as well.

By the 1950s, having served his cornerman’s apprenticeship under Lou Stillman, Dundee was rising to prominence as a trainer, with Carmen Basilio and Willie Pastrano among his pupils. Following Chris’s lead, he relocated to Miami beach, where, operating out of the Fifth Street Gym, he would guide the fortunes of a trio of great Cuban boxers (Jose napoles, Sugar Ramos and Luis Rodriguez), teaching himself Spanish along the way.

After the audacious Cassius Clay won the Olympic light-heavyweight gold medal in Rome in 1960, he turned professional under the guidance of the so-called Louisville Group, a consortium of businessmen from his Kentucky home town. They, in turn, enlisted Dundee as Clay’s trainer, a position he would retain throughout the career of the man who would become Muhammad ali.

Dundee was not only an insightful strategist and master of the psychological game; he knew the tricks of the trade as well. In the fourth round of a 1963 fight in London, Henry Cooper floored Clay with a left hook that left him dazed and woozy. Concerned that his man might not fully recover between rounds, Dundee noticed a small tear in one of the gloves and, with his finger, surreptitiously exacerbated the damage. The ruse bought valuable time, allowing Clay to regain his senses while a new pair was brought from the dressing room. He stopped Cooper on cuts a round later.

In Clay’s epochal 1964 challenge for Sonny Liston’s heavyweight title (a bout promoted by Chris Dundee), Angelo once again saved the day. Blinded in the fifth round by a foreign substance that may or may not have come from Liston’s gloves, Clay wanted to quit and ordered Dundee to cut his gloves off. Instead Dundee sponged out the eyes as best he could and literally threw the challenger back into the ring with orders to run. Clay survived the round and took the title when Liston quit on his stool, failing to answer the bell for the seventh round.

By the time he signed on with Sugar Ray Leonard, Inc, Dundee had already trained a dozen champions. Leonard would be his 13th.

Famous Quotes by Dundee

• “Both guys ran out of gas, only my guy had an extra tank” - after Ali defeated Frazier in the Thrilla in Manilla, October 1, 1975
• “In all my years in boxing I’d never known such heat” - after Ali defeated Frazier in the Thrilla in Manilla, October 1, 1975
• “Right now, there's nobody out there to turn people on. This is the disease of Muhammad Ali. With Muhammad, every time he did something, it was excitement. It's excitement now, when the guy comes around, walking around with Parkinson's. It's unfair to try to compare anybody to this kid.”  Angelo Dundee on his most prized asset.
•  "You're blowing it, son! You're blowing it!" Dundee before the start of round 13 when Sugar Ray Leonard fought Thomas Hearns in 1989, a fight known as “The Showdown” (Leonard went on to score a 14th round win when the referee stopped the fight).
• “Suck it up Champ they gave the last round to Earnie” - Dundee into Ali’s ear midway through his 1977 bout against Earnie Shavers at Madison Square Gardens.
• “It will be like cutting the hair off Goliath” - Dundee to another of his protege’s Mike Tyson, before his fight with Trevor Berbick in 1986 for the WBC Heavyweight title in the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas (Tyson won on a second round TKO).

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/_yUq--F357o/post.aspx

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