Angelo Dundee's Job

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: "A LOT OF TRAINERS TODAY AREN'T EXPERIENCED IN THE WAR OF BOXING"

JA: Angelo Dundee's was probably one of the best teachers of the game, would you agree?

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: I know I'm probably going to make a lot of people mad by saying this, but from what I seen and from what other fighters who have worked with Angelo told me, he never showed them anything as far fighting. When I say teaching, I mean to show you how to fight. He was great in the corner, keeping his fighter hyped up and motivated; he was very good at that. He stressed things to you and if you were behind in the fight, he would wiggle a little magic, tell you the right thing and what to do. A lot of good fighters took what message was given to them and turned it into something good. A lot of the fighters that he had were very good fighters. Those fighters, if you think of it, all had other guys training them and teaching them how to fight, and Angelo would come in the last two weeks before the fight to polish things up. As far as teaching, he didn't really teach fighters. No one I ever talked to ever told me he was a good teacher of the game, and I talked to a lot of fighters. As a younger fighter, I was curious to see how this guy was and that guy was. When I talked to fighters about Angelo, they said, "John, he never really showed me how to fight. He was great in the corner, but he never showed me how to fight." Listen, that went a long way for Angelo. He's in the Hall of Fame and I give him his respect. The first time I met Muhammad Ali was back in 1991 and he told me, "I love Angelo and I think he's great, but he didn't teach me how to fight."

JA: You know your going to get a lot of heat for saying what you said.

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: You know I'm going to get it, but listen, these guys know the truth. I've given the man his props and he's a great motivator and great in the corner. A lot of guys can be great trainers, but come fight night, they get lost where they get tongue-tied, caught up in the fight. Listen, I gave Angelo his props and the recognition he deserved.





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http://www.fighthype.com/news/article12692.html

 

I think it was in this interview with Ali where he talks about Dundee's position/job.

If you can find a longer length than this short clip, you'll hear what he says.


Here he just talks about who the hardest hitter was

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gy5L6Ujuw[/ame]

 

What brought some of Mirena's fighters and himself his fame would have put him behind bard where he belonged if justice ruled Corpor8 Republican Amerika .

And I do not care how many Republicans objected Ali during his time .

What allowed Mirena 2 do what he did and escape without even being interog8ed by d FBI was Republican cooking .

 

Yeah I've read this before. It doesn't hurt that he was surrounded by some of the greatest natural talents ever to lace up the gloves.

 

I think when he and Ali first started working with eachother he did a fair amount of 1 on 1 stuff, but as he got older he just basically made observations and ensured all was going well in the camp.

Come the 80s he basically just showed up for the fights and did what he did best, get the fighters to perform at their highest possible level during the fight.

 

Jimmy Ellis

 

Dundee knows boxing thats for sure but he surrounded himself with solid guys to work on technique with the fighters. He was the one who laid out the gameplan and ran the corner. He would know what to say and the right time to say it. Dundee had a lot of successful fighters.
I think Lou Duva tried to have the same type of role with his fighters, but didnt have the same kind of magic.

 

He did pretty good guiding old Foreman.

 

Angelo says in his book I Only Talk Winning that he was Ray's manager, and hired trainers, sparring partners and other people to work with Ray. He scouted and chose the opponents, and handled the negotiations for the fights. And as others are saying here, provided advice and guidance and was the cornerman.

He's also pretty candid about how Ali was headstrong and he never gave Ali suggestions directly. Only indirectly, making Ali think he was the one who thought of something. That jives with what Archie Moore said about Ali. Angelo provided Ali the gym, and probably the sparring partners and scouted opponents. I think he may have started out as manager before Herbert Muhammad took over.

It's actually kind of comical to hear Angelo yelling "Get off the ropes" all night long during the Rumble in the Jungle. It's also touching to hear Ali menacingly tell Don King "never to talk to Angie like that again" during one of the press conferences before that fight (When We Were Kings).

I don't know how much of a hands on trainer he was to earlier fighters like Basilio.

But I don't think it's right to judge Angelo by what he was not. I think he should be judged by what he was and the enormous success he had. "Every master has his own book," as the Mexicans say. I don't always agree with that saying, but I think it applies here.

 

Anyone have any insights of his work with Pastrano?

 

Ellis was a most average middleweight, until Dundee advised him to pack on some muscle and try a new career as a heavyweight. He went onto capture a title.

It is correct that Dundee was far from the greatest trainer of boxing techniques, but he did what was required of him and that was to guide numerous fighters to the top. Including a few average ones who benefited from his connections.

 

This. He was also very solid in the corner. I saw it first hand with George. Angelo Dundee got Big George through the Holyfield fight. I was sitting right there, I heard everything.

 

Angelo is easily in the top 3 cornermen of all time, his work speaks for itself in the corner.

I think he also took Ralph Dupas and Willie Pastrano from the start and took them to the top. I'm not sure when he started working with Basilio, but there was a time period where Basilio turned from a club fighter into a great fighter and I'm curious as to whether it was around the time Angelo started working with him.