Angelo Dundee (born Angelo Mirena; August 30, 1921 – February 1, 2012) was a 20th century American boxing trainer and cornerman. Internationally known for his work with Muhammad Ali (1960–1981), he also worked with 15 other world boxing champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, José Nápoles, George Foreman, George Scott, Jimmy Ellis, Carmen Basilio, Luis Manuel Rodríguez and Willie Pastrano.^[1]

• 2Boxing trainer career

Dec 26, 2016  Even an unknown trainer will have fairly high demands if he is a really good trainer! It is also important to note that a trainer will only agree to work for you if you have at least one fighter that matches his style. A trainer whose style is 'Swarmer' won't work for you if all you have are Counterpunchers.

Early life[edit]

Dundee was born Angelo Mirena on 30 August 1921 in Philadelphia, to Italian recent immigrant parents. In the early 1940s he changed his surname to 'Dundee', after the United States champion boxer Johnny Dundee. During World War 2 he served as an aircraft mechanic in the United States Air Force, including an active service deployment to England in 1944-45. His first experience of cornerman work was in U.S.A.F. boxing tournaments, and after leaving the Air Force in late 1945 at the war's end he headed to New York City where he was employed as a bucket-guy at Stillman's Gym as an apprenticeship as a boxing trainer.^[2][3]

Boxing trainer career[edit]

After competing his apprenticeship in New York City, Dundee relocated to Miami Beach, Florida where, with a brother, he opened the 'Fifth Street Gym.' Carmen Basilio was the first World Champion for whom Dundee acted as a cornerman, when Basilio defeated Tony DeMarco for the world welterweight crown in 1955, and Sugar Ray Robinson for the World Middleweight Crown in 1957.

Career with Muhammad Ali[edit]

Dundee traveled around the world with Ali, and he was the cornerman in all but two of Ali's fights (Tunney Hunsaker in 1960 and Jimmy Ellis in 1971). Dundee trained the young Cassius Clay, as Ali was then known, in most of his early bouts, including those with Archie Moore (who had trained Clay before his partnering with Dundee) and Sonny Liston, where Clay won the Heavyweight title. Dundee continued to train Ali in all of his fights until his exile from boxing, and upon Ali's return to the sport Dundee trained him in almost all of his fights, including Ali's famed bouts with fighters such as Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson, George Foreman, Ken Norton and, later, Leon Spinks. One exception was in Ali's '71 fight with Jimmy Ellis where Dundee was in Ellis's corner. Ali knocked Ellis out in the 12th round. Dundee was accused by Foreman of loosening the ring ropes before his 1974 The Rumble in the Jungle fight with Ali to help Ali win the fight by using the rope-a-dope technique. Dundee consistently denied tampering with the ropes.^[4] In 1998, after decades, Dundee reunited with Muhammad Ali and appeared alongside him in a sentimental Super Bowl commercial. The two men were friends until Dundee's death and the veteran trainer would always refer to Ali as 'my kid'.

Other work[edit]

Dundee saw a future emerging star in Sugar Ray Leonard, whom he called 'a smaller version of Ali'. Dundee acted as cornerman for Leonard in many of his biggest fights, including those with Wilfred Benítez, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. In Leonard's first bout with Hearns, Dundee, thinking that his protégé was behind on the scorecards, quipped the now famous words, 'You're blowing it, son! You're blowing it!' before the start of round 13.^[5] Leonard went on to score a fourteenth round win when the referee stopped the fight.

Dundee frequently went to other matches during his career to scout other boxers. During the first Joe Frazier vs. George Foreman bout in Kingston, Jamaica, on January 22, 1973, he sat near Howard Cosell, who was recording a call for ABC for a tape delay re-broadcast. He was overheard on the call noting that Frazier had been hurt before he was knocked down by Foreman the first time in the first round; Cosell mentioned it immediately before his famous 'Down goes Frazier!' call. Later in the bout, Dundee was overheard pleading for the fight to be stopped as Frazier was repeatedly knocked down. The fight was finally stopped after Frazier was knocked down for the sixth time, with Foreman winning the bout—and the lineal World Heavyweight Championship—by technical knockout.

He later teamed up with George Foreman, including his 1991 Heavyweight title fight against Evander Holyfield and his 1994 Heavyweight title win against then-undefeated Michael Moorer.

In addition, Dundee also trained world champions Luis Rodriguez, Willie Pastrano, Ralph Dupas, José Nápoles, Pinklon Thomas, Trevor Berbick, Jimmy Ellis, Wilfredo Gómez, Michael Nunn and Sugar Ramos, as well as other boxers including Bill Bossio, David Estrada, Douglas Vaillant, Jimmy Lange, Tom Zbikowski, Troy Darrell, Adilson Rodrigues and Pat O'Connor.

Retirement[edit]

In 2005, Dundee was hired to train Russell Crowe for Crowe's characterization of James J. Braddock in Cinderella Man. To that end, Dundee traveled to Australia to work with the Oscar-winning actor and appeared in the film as 'Angelo' the corner man. Throughout his career, Dundee was widely respected as a decent, honorable man in an often corrupt sport. Perhaps the greatest tribute to Dundee was paid by Howard Cosell who said 'If I had a son who wanted to be a fighter and I couldn't talk him out of it, the only man I would let train him is Angelo Dundee'.

In November 2008, he was hired as a special consultant for Oscar De La Hoya's fight with Manny Pacquiao.^[6]

Death[edit]

Dundee died peacefully in his sleep at his senior resident apartment at the age of 90 on February 1, 2012, in Tampa, Florida.^[7][8] A funeral was held on 10 February 2012 at the Countryside Christian Center in Clearwater, Florida, attended by a crowd of several hundred mourners, among them Muhammad Ali.^[9] Dundee's body was buried in Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park cemetery in Clearwater, Florida.^[10]

Honors[edit]

Dundee was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.^[11]

Publications[edit]

• My View From the Corner: A Life in Boxing (2009) (autobiography).^[12]

Popular culture[edit]

He was dramatically played by Ernest Borgnine in the cinema film The Greatest (1977), and by the actor Ron Silver in Ali (2001).

References[edit]

1. ^'Angelo Dundee'. The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group Limited. February 2, 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
2. ^Obituary for Dundee, 'Daily Telegraph' 2 February 2012. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/sport-obituaries/9056657/Angelo-Dundee.html
3. ^Arnold, Laurence (February 2, 2012). 'Angelo Dundee, Trainer of Boxing Champ Muhammad Ali, Dies at 90 in Florida'. www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
4. ^'Extratime: Angelo Dundee'. news.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
5. ^Dahlberg, Tim (2 February 2012). 'Angelo Dundee, legendary trainer of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, dies at age 90'. StarTribune. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
6. ^Rafael, Dan (October 30, 2008). 'De La Hoya signs Dundee as special consultant ahead of Pacquiao fight'. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
7. ^'Muhammad Ali trainer Angelo Dundee dies'. BBC news. February 2, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
8. ^'Famed boxing trainer Angelo Dundee dies'. CNN. February 2, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
9. ^'Ali attends Angelo Dundee funeral', 'espn.com', 11 February 2012. https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/7563237/muhammad-ali-hundreds-attend-angelo-dundee-funeral
10. ^Entry for Dundee in Findagrave website (2019). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84345542/angelo-dundee
11. ^'Hall of Fame boxing trainer Dundee dies'. newsobserver.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
12. ^Dundee, Angelo (2009). My View From the Corner: A Life in Boxing. McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN978-0-07-162847-1.

External links[edit]

Constantine 'Cus' D'Amato (January 17, 1908 – November 4, 1985) was an American boxing manager and trainer who handled the careers of Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson, and José Torres; all went on to become members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.^[1] Several successful boxing trainers, including Teddy Atlas and Kevin Rooney were tutored by D'Amato. He was a proponent of the peek-a-boo style of boxing, in which the fighter holds his gloves close to his cheeks and pulls his arms tight against his torso. The style was criticized by some because it was believed that an efficient attack could not be launched from it.^[2][3]

• 4Notable boxers trained
• 6Legacy

Early life[edit]

D'Amato was born to an Italian family in the Bronx, on January 17, 1908.^[4] His father Damiano D'Amato delivered ice and coal in the Bronx using a horse and cart.^[5] At a young age Cus became very involved and interested in the Catholic Church, and at times during his youth he even considered becoming a priest. Cus had a brief career as an amateur boxer, boxing as a featherweight and lightweight, but was unable to get a professional license because of an eye injury he had suffered in a street fight.^[5] This was documented in the biographic novel Confusing The Enemy.^[6]

Career[edit]

At age 22, he opened the Empire Sporting Club with Jack Barrow at the Gramercy Gym.^[4] D'Amato lived in the gym for years. According to D'Amato, he spent his time at the gym waiting for a 'champion', but his best fighters were routinely poached by 'connected' managers. One fighter discovered by D'Amato was Italian-American Rocky Graziano, who signed with other trainers and managers and went on to become middleweight champion of the world.^[2]

D'Amato also confronted boxing politics and decided, along with his friend Howard Cosell, to thwart the International Boxing Club of New York (IBC). Suspicious to the point of paranoia, D'Amato refused to match his fighter in any bout promoted by the IBC.^[4] The IBC was eventually found to be in violation of anti-trust laws and was dissolved.^[4][7]

Personal life[edit]

In the early 1970s, while looking for a mansion big enough to accommodate about a dozen of his most aspiring disciples and to occasionally receive a half-hundred other, D'Amato being in his 60s, met his partner wife-to-be Camille Ewald, who was thinking about selling her house, a 14-room Victorian mansion, after her family left, when D'Amato came around and made a proposition to her. Cus took all the training and managing, while Camille was responsible for cooking and other household chores.^[8]

Notable boxers trained[edit]

Floyd Patterson[edit]

Under D'Amato's tutelage, Floyd Patterson captured the Olympic middleweight gold medal in the 1952 Helsinki games. D'Amato then guided Patterson through the professional ranks, manoeuvring Patterson into fighting for the title vacated by Rocky Marciano. After beating Tommy 'Hurricane' Jackson in an elimination fight, Patterson faced Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore on November 30, 1956, for the World Heavyweight Championship. He beat Moore by a knockout in five rounds and became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history at the time, at the age of 21 years, 10 months, three weeks and five days. He was the first Olympic gold medalist to win a professional Heavyweight title.

Patterson and D'Amato split after Patterson's second consecutive 1st-round KO loss to Sonny Liston, although his influence over the former two-time champion had already begun to diminish.^[5]

José Torres[edit]

D'Amato also managed José Torres who in May 1965 at Madison Square Garden, defeated the International Boxing Hall Of Fame member, Willie Pastrano, to become world Light Heavyweight champion.^[9] With the victory Torres became the third Puerto Rican world boxing champion in history and the first Latin American to win the world Light Heavyweight title.

Mike Tyson[edit]

—Jack Newfield on Tyson's special role in the D'Amato's life^[10]

After Patterson and Torres' careers ended, D'Amato worked in relative obscurity. He eventually moved to Catskill, New York, where he opened a gym, the Catskill Boxing Club.^[4]

There he met and began to work with the future heavyweight champion, 'Iron' Mike Tyson, who was in a nearby reform school.^[2][11] He adopted Tyson after Tyson's mother died. D'Amato trained him over the next few years, encouraging the use of peek-a-boo style boxing, with the hands in front of the face for more protection. D'Amato was briefly assisted by Teddy Atlas, and later Kevin Rooney, a protégé of D'Amato, who emphasized elusive movement. It is unclear at exactly which age (11 or 12) Tyson first became seriously interested in becoming a professional boxer. 'Irish' Bobby Stewart, a former Golden Gloves Champion, was approached by Tyson while working as a counselor at the Tryon School For Boys. Tyson knew of Stewart's former boxing glory and specifically asked to speak with Stewart who immediately took on a gruff attitude of the subject after witnessing Tyson's terrible behavior in his first days at the school. Bobby Stewart introduced Mike Tyson to D'Amato when Tyson was around 12 or 13 years old, after Stewart stated he had taught Tyson all he could about boxing technique and skill.^[12][13] D'Amato died a little over a year before Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight titleholder in history at the age of 20 years four months, thus supplanting Patterson's record.^[5] Rooney would later guide Tyson to the heavyweight championship twelve months after D'Amato's death.

Footage of D'Amato can be seen in Tyson, a 2008 documentary. Tyson credits D'Amato with building his confidence and guiding him as a father figure.^[14]

Death[edit]

Cus D'Amato died at Mount Sinai Hospital of pneumonia in November 1985. He was 77.^[3]

Legacy[edit]

Cus D'Amato Memorial Award[edit]

Cus D'Amato Memorial Award was established by the Boxing Writers Association of America. The first was presented to Mike Tyson at the group's 61st annual dinner, May 16, 1986.^[15]

Science of Victory Marathon[edit]

From October 26, 2017 through November 4, 2017, an international, online 'Science of Victory' marathon was dedicated to the memory of Cus D'Amato. Journalists and boxers from Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Germany and the U.S., including Silvio Branco, Patrizio Oliva, Dr. Download torrent george harrison discography full. Antonio Graceffo, Avi Nardia, and Gordon Marino.^[16] The marathon promoted the book Non-compromised Pendulum by Tom Patti and Dr. Oleg Maltsev, which reviewed Cus D'Amato's training style.^[17][18][19]

Portrayals in film, theater, fiction[edit]

George C. Scott portrayed D'Amato in the 1995 HBO movie Tyson.

KNOCKOUT: The Cus D'Amato Story, is a stage and screenplay based on the life of Cus D'Amato, from a concept by boxing trainer Kevin Rooney and written by Dianna Lefas.

The biographic novel Confusing The Enemy^[5] tells the story of Cus D'Amato.^[1]

Commemoration[edit]

In 1993, the 14th Street Union^[1] Square Local Development Corporation named part of 14th Street, where D'Amato's Gramercy Gym was located, Cus D'Amato Way.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcBrozan, Nadine (1993-10-29). 'CHRONICLE'. The New York Times.
2. ^ ^abcHeller, Peter (1995). Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story. Da Capo Press. pp. 17–20, 26, 51. ISBN0-306-80669-X.
3. ^ ^ab'Boxing Manager Cus D'Amato Dies at 77'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
4. ^ ^abcdeRoberts, James (14 March 2003). The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book (3rd ed.). McBooks Press. ISBN978-1590130209.
5. ^ ^abcdeWeiss, Scott (1 August 2013). Confusing The Enemy - The Cus D'Amato Story. Acanthus. ISBN978-0989000123.
6. ^Confusing The Enemy
7. ^'D'Amato Misses on Long Shot'. The New York Times. 8 January 1982.
8. ^Watch Me Now: A Documentary by Michael Marton (1983).
9. ^'Hall of Fame Friday: Jose Torres'. The Ring. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
10. ^ESPN SportsCentury - Mike Tyson
11. ^Tyson, Mike (30 May 2017). Iron Ambition: My Life with Cus D'Amato. Blue Rider Press. ISBN978-0399177033.
12. ^Heller, Peter(1988). 'Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story,' p. 13. Da Capo Press, New York, 1988.
13. ^Anderson, Dave (3 August 1987). 'Sports of the Times; 'Time for the New Trainers''. The New York Times.
14. ^Graham Bensinger (3 March 2016). 'Emotional Mike Tyson on trainer who made him champ'. Retrieved 2 July 2017 – via YouTube.
15. ^Berger, Phil (May 20, 1986). 'Tyson Named Best Rookie'. The New York Times. p. 5. Retrieved 2019-06-12.
16. ^Guests of the project noncompromisedpendulum.com
17. ^Online marathon dedicated to memory of legendary trainer Cus D'Amato www.worldboxingnews.net
18. ^Internationales Projekt «die Wissenschaft des Sieges»^{[permanent dead link]} www.boxen1.com
19. ^Unique International Project 'Science Of Victory'Archived 2017-12-01 at the Wayback Machine worldofmartialarts.pro

External links[edit]

• Cus D'Amato at Find a Grave