Angelo Dundee, the man who worked with some of the greatest names in boxing, died at the beginning of the month, at the age of 90. Having celebrated the greatness of Muhammad Ali, we would be remiss if we did not comment on the trainer, without whom, Ali would, arguably, never have become “The Greatest.”
Angelo Dundee himself was perhaps the greatest cornerman of all time. In addition to being Ali’s trainer in all but two of his 61 professional bouts and playing a major role in his becoming the first three-time world heavyweight champion, Mr Dundee was also trainer to 13 other world champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman (when he became the oldest heavyweight champion in history in 1994).
As you would expect in a sport like boxing, a cornerman had to know how to keep his boxers on their feet and Angelo Dundee knew all the tricks of the trade. After Henry Cooper knocked down Ali in 1963, Mr Dundee illegally used smelling salts to help him regain his senses and made a small tear in one of Ali’s gloves into a larger hole to buy recovery time for his fighter. Ali went on to win in the next round, when the fight was stopped because of a severe cut under Cooper’s eye.
Angelo Dundee was also a superb motivator. He was widely held to have been responsible for persuading Ali to keep fighting in the brutal ‘Thrilla in Manilla,’ when Ali looked as if he had nothing left with which to answer Joe Frazier’s counterattack. Perhaps more famously, he spurred on Sugar Ray Leonard, when he needed it most, at the beginning of the 13th round, in his first fight with Thomas Hearns, with the words: “You’re blowing it, son! You’re blowing it!”
A master tactician, Angelo Dundee, moreover, had the innate gift of recognising a boxer’s desire to win and helping him realise that desire. Therein lay his real genius. And whilst he himself always maintained that fighters “make trainers,” he was the ultimate poster boy for the trainer who made fighters champions.
Trainer, coach, cornerman, Angelo Dundee was, in addition, father-figure, mentor and loyal friend to many of his fighters. Most notably, in his enduring partnership with Muhammad Ali, he was in the corner of this most colourful and controversial of champions in life as well as in the ring.
The story of sport is replete with remarkable coaches and captains, possessing an almost unquantifiable combination of technical knowledge, tactical nous and psychological insight to make them outstanding leaders and master motivators. Manchester United has had Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson; Liverpool had Bill Shankly. There have been the likes of Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics, Phil Jackson of the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers, and Pat Riley of the Lakers. And in this little corner of the world, the West Indies has produced two of the most globally acclaimed cricket captains of all time, the legendary Sir Frank Worrell and our own Clive Lloyd.
Behind the statistics, records and achievements, what is it that sets such men apart as leaders? On the battlefield, great emphasis is placed on leading from the front. Captains, who lead by example on the sports field, are in the same mould and the great ones, like the cornermen of boxing, also stand firmly behind their charges in triumph and in defeat.
But what of the managers, coaches and trainers who are not required to do combat by sport? Is it sufficient to rate them by their trophies and win-loss ratios? How do you account for the respect they command? How, indeed, do you explain Muhammad Ali’s reaction to Angelo Dundee’s exhortation to fight on in the face of fearsome punishment or Sugar Ray Leonard’s unleashing of a winning onslaught in response to Mr Dundee’s reprimand? Pride alone does not provide the answer.
Great coaches and captains obviously have to command the respect of their charges. They often have to deal with athletes’ egos and, in the macho world of team sports, they have to get alpha-males to think about their team rather than themselves. More than knowledge of the game and devising the best strategies, the ability to lead, to get the best out of athletes, comes from within. And the ability to inspire at the pivotal moment, like sporting genius itself, is almost indefinable. Love, as in the case of Angelo Dundee, comes later as a bonus.
