Angelo Dundee Passes Away

Angelo Dundee, the famed trainer of Muhammad Ali, has passed away at the age of 90. Dundee, who was responsible for turning Ali into arguably the greatest boxer in the history of the sport, died on Wednesday in Tampa, Florida surrounded by his family.

Dundee was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994 after a career that spanned more than 60 years and trained 15 world champions, including Leonard,George Foreman, Carman Basilio and Jose Napoles to name just a few.

Although Dundee trained many great boxers he was best known for his work with ‘The Greatest. Speaking about his time training Ali in a 2005 interview, a modest Dundee said: "I just put the reflexes in the proper direction."

The greatest partnership in boxing history, according to Dundee’s official biography, started in Louisville, Kentucky in 1959. Dundee was there training light heavyweight Willie Pastrano when a young Cassius Clay, as he was then known, called his hotel room to speak to him 

Although; Ali’s career was one of the most successful in terms of boxing, it was equally controversial. Ali angered many  white Americans when he joined the Black Muslim movement and also refused to enlist in the army to fight in the Vietnam but Dundee never got involved in the politics. Dundee respected Ali’s views and continued to train him in the same way he always did.

"Through all those days of controversy, and the many that followed, Angelo never got involved," Ali wrote in the foreword paragraph of official. “"He let me be exactly who I wanted to be, and he was loyal. That is the reason I love Angelo."

February 2, 2012