Return to boxing a 'thrill' for Dundee, 87
Legendary trainer will help De La Hoya prepare for Dec. 2 bout vs. Pacquiao
OLDSMAR, Fla. - There’s a picture that Angelo Dundee holds sacred in his retirement home in this suburb along Tampa Bay.
He’s pictured in black and white, wearing a white collared shirt and skinny tie some 40-plus years ago, grooming a young Muhammad Ali. His arm is draped over the heavyweight’s left shoulder, and Ali is posing in a fighter’s stance.
Forgive the 87-year-old Dundee for looking to the past; he has a lot of great memories and likes to reminisce. But given one more chance to help a big fighter win a big fight — and lend his own star power to boxing at the same time — he couldn’t resist.
Dundee is assisting Nacho Beristain in training Oscar De La Hoya for his Dec. 6 fight with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Dundee will not work the corner on fight night, but he’s been reviewing tapes and offering his opinions on strategy and technique to De La Hoya.
Lending help for a major fight for the first time in years — and maybe the last time in his career — has Dundee invigorated.
“It’s a thrill. I’m going back to see the people I’ve seen all my life,” Dundee said. “It’s not like I’m running into a brick wall. I’ve done this before. I’ve been in a lot of corners, you know?”
Just a few.
Dundee was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994. He trained 15 world champions, including Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles. He worked major boxing scenes with his promoter brother Chris Dundee, with stops at the famed Stillman’s Gym in New York and Miami Beach’s 5th Street Gym.
“He knows everything,” said Basilio, the 81-year-old former world welterweight champion. “When Angelo goes, it will be as if the boxing library burns down.”
Dundee now wears thick glasses, is stocky and bald. His once pale skin is full of wrinkles and blemishes, so much so the deep scar on the right side of his neck — from surgery to repair a clogged artery about four weeks ago — almost goes unnoticed. He spends much of his time telling stories of his boxing career and signing autographs of that 1962 photo with Ali for fans across the world.
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Boxing also is fighting for survival.
Dundee has been closely following the sport as it continues to lose its luster with the recent rise of mixed martial arts. He doesn’t consider Ultimate Fighting Championship or other forms of MMA a threat to boxing, though, putting the new entertainment form in the same category as wrestling.
“Boxing has highs and lows. You can’t help it. All sports have that,” Dundee said. “Boxing is going to be fine. We just need good fights. And to have good fights we need good fighters and guys with personality.”
The De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight is being billed as the biggest boxing event of the year, though few other than the hardcore fans have much interest
The 35-year-old De La Hoya is well past his prime. The Golden Boy has seemingly become the Golden Guy. And though the fight will produce a major pay day, it is lacking attention in mainstream sports. By bringing in Dundee, besides his knowledge, the fight adds some name recognition.
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