Should Dundee Have Walked Away From Ali When Pacheco Did?

To me it’s a giant blemish on his record. Borderline criminal on all involved

 

If Dundee had walked away, someone else would have taken his place ... better or worse? Who knows - but Ali tended to be surrounded by exploiters and con men. And Dundee was the one who ended the Holmes fiasco; Bundini was still pleading for Ali to go out and continue to get beaten. Herbert would have put someone in Dundee's place who very likely would have had less regard for Ali's well being. Angelo always said his biggest worry was that Muhammad had nobody left to look out for him; that's why he agreed to train him for Holmes. I believe he tried, but when Ali decided he had to do it, Angelo decided to stay in case things went bad - which, of course, they did. The only one who might have stopped the fight was Herbert Muhammad, and no way was that going to happen.

 

Angelo Dundee did leave Muhammad Ali for the Jul 26 1971 fight against Jimmy Ellis, in Houston, Texas, won by Ali, TKO 12. Dundee was in Jimmy's corner. Ali, as mentioned in the above poster, would have found someone else.

 

Muhammad Ali would have found another trainer, so that he would have been able to continue his career. I do not have a name.

 

Let me know what would have happened and how you feel about it, explain.

 

I agree with your post, also Don King had a lot to do with it.

 

100%. Pacheco, Gene Kilroy & Jerry Izenberg all confirmed this on the ESPN documentary. Pacheco also said Dundee told him the reason he stuck with Ali through that fight was if things went downhill he could always stop it, which was BS.

 

There's a lot of info on this in the Larry vs Muhammad documentary. Yes Ali should have retired after the Shavers fight. One of my fav boxing books is Heavyweight Boxing of the 1970's (the great fighters and rivalries). Ken Norton in 1977 had reestablished himself in 1977 as the number 1 heavyweight contender. Ali and Norton were looking at a 4th fight in Rio de Janieiro which Ali wanted a ridiculous $12 million dollars to fight Norton again, which he was not going to get. In my opinion Ali being a smart fighter took a tune up against Leon Spinks and deliberately lost , knowing he would get a rematch , and never have to fight Norton again. The WBC stood by Norton and demand Spinks defend his belt against Norton. Spinks wasn't that stupid knowing he could get more money for a rematch with Ali. Sadly Ken was named WBC champ in March of 78, but had to defend his belt against up and coming Larry Holmes, which he lostt in a great fight in June.
If anyone doesn't have this book I strongly encourage them to get it, It goes year by year from 1970-79, and is very in depth with the key fights of each year giving the info leading up to the fights, the info surrounding them as well as the outcomes.

 

That's true, but I think it was just because Angelo trained Ellis before he trained Ali?

 

In the Larry ve Muhammad doc, Pacheco and Dundee were very close friends, Pacheco even said Dundee was Godfather to his kids. Dundee said "Ferdie if the kid get's into trouble I'll know when to stop it" and Ferdie told "no you won't."