True. I think ideally you'd be able to teach many different style, and use the best style for the talents of the fighter, and be able to best teach flexible tactics for different opponents. It's all far easy said than done.
I don't know about Duva being the greatest trainer, but he was one of the top talent evaluators the fight game has ever seen. Dundee in my opnion was a very good trainer, but possibly the greatest motivator in the history of the game.
Dundee's best stuff was in the corner on fight night, not as a technical trainer in the gym. So for me, he's a decent trainer and a great corner man. Dundee stopped Ali from quitting when he could not see in the first Liston fight telling him to run until his eyes cleared, and he told Sugar Ray Leonard he's blowing it and not to box Hearns, you have to slug with him. When a quick adjustment was needed, Dundee was Johnny on the spot and had the trust of his fighters to take his advice.
Correct. A great psychologist, perhaps the best ever as a trainer.However, his strength was not teachning punching technique.One of the most complete trainers ever is Emmanuel steward in my view,
Exactly. But every trainer has their signature styles. Cus and the peek a boo, Dundee loved speed and unorthodoxy, Steward trained tall very well, Uncle Roger focuses on defense and the philly shell. Roach fighters all had that signature lead hook. Eddie Futch is probably best overall IMO.
Cracks me up all the armchair experts going on about how great Dundee was. Dundee didnt even do his own training. He typically came into camp two weeks before a fight to talk strategy and work the corner. He didnt train Ali, Pastrano, Dupas, or Leonard in the traditional sense. Giving him credi for Pastrano and Dupas is a huge slap in the face to Whitey Esnault who forgot more about training fighters than Dundee ever knew and who was responsible for those guys style, ability, and fundamentals. They went with Dundee because his name alone could open doors and win fights given his connections in the sport and the fact that his brother was one of the biggest, best, and most respected promoters for a quarter of a century. Taking guys with tons of god given gifts like Ali and Leonard (both of whom were actually trained day to day by others) is like saying you could build a ferrari from scratche because you polished one at a car wash. Its ludicrous.
Dundee because of his connection with Ali and Leonard is elevated to legendary status. There are so many trainers who put in the hard yards and get no recognition. Dundee a great motivator but as trainer way overrated.
Angelo Dundee (Luis Rodriquez), Gil Clancy (Emile Griffith), & Doug Lord (Curtis Cokes). A Triangle of welterweight boxing knowledge.
Dundee, as mentioned several times already, was much better in the corner on fight night than he was in the gym in the lead up to the fight. Earlier on in his career Dundee was more of an in-gym trainer, but as he got older and his demand grew, he was more of a finishing touches kind of guy. He would come in at the tale end and tighten up on things in the ring he saw could be a problem come fight night. On fight night his corner work speaks for itself. He had great intuition about what to say to fighters and frankly had a talent for getting his fighters to win a fight. He had talent for talking what to do during the rounds, what to say between rounds, and how to manage the clock and had a clear sense of what was going on and how to use it to his fighter's advantage. Obviously there are trainers who were better at teaching fundamentals, but there are few, if any trainers who were better at getting their fighter the win through sheer corner work.
Freddie Brown and Jack Blackburn would be the two best teachers of the game in my view. Blackburn was a rough guy and he died young but he also had Sammy Mandell as a Bantamweight champion. If your wondering why Blackburn just take a look at Joe Louis`s left hand. Ray Arcel talked about being the only person ever allowed in their gym when the real work was being done. He watched Blackburn develop Louis`s lefthand into the greatest weapon in ring history.
Angelo did pay his dues over at Stillman`s gym. He was much younger than Brown, Arcel and that group. More of less an errand boy. He learned from each and every one of them. ` He kept his mouth shut and didn`t always have his hand out` is how Ray Arcel described young Angelo. There may be trainer nobody ever heard of that is truly the best but he never got an elite talent. Success breeds success. Dundee did fine work with Carmen Basillio and took him to a remarkable victory over Sugar Ray in 1958. That led to more work so on and so on. He did have an advantage with his brother Chris Dundee running things in Miami. He
I think Angelo's early work with guys like Basilio and Pastrano is overshadowed by his later work with superstars Ali and Leonard. He took Ali pretty early on and quickly learned how to handle his training. I believe in his book he commented how he knew he couldn't get Ali to do something by directly telling him. Instead when he wanted him to do something he said something along the lines of "I like the way you bend your knee and pivot on the right hand." Giving him praise on something he wasn't even doing would get him to start doing it. That kind of intuitiveness can't be taught and is a reason why Dundee remained such a relevant figure for so long.
