RIP Angelo Dundee

Muhammad Ali's trainer dead at 90:

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/7530790/muhammud-ali-legendary-trainer-angelo-dundee-dies-90

 

Wow. Right near deadline, too. RIP to a legendary ring guy.

 

Folks on ESPN's site are going nuts that the story isn't longer. Morons.

 

I associate him with Sugar Ray almost as much as Ali. "You're blowing it, son. You're blowing it." RIP to a legend.

 

It's just two days after Marvelous Marvin Hagler's trainer, Goody Petronelli, died.

 

Oh no! I missed the news about Goody.

 

Asa huge Hagler fan I was sorry to hear that. Seems Goody's brother Pat died last fall. Those guys were the opposite of Dundee who worked with so many great fighters, Hagler was their once-in-a-lifetime fighter.

RIP Ang, one of a great characters in a sport that used to have loads of them. A tireless promoter of the sport and of his fighters. His book I Only Talk Winning is loaded with great stories.

 

Terrible news.

Rest in peace.

A true legend of the sport.

 

Every time I read the name "Angelo Dundee" I hear Howard Cosell saying it in my head.

 

Same with me.

Angelo also has a slight bit of a pro wrestling connection. When Ali was supposed to work the boxer/wrestler "match" with Antonio Inoki in Japan, he also has Classy Freddie Blassie in his corner to hype things up on the wrestling end.

As Blassie told it in his book, Ali went over to Japan and was supposed to lose in a fixed match. Then he looked at Inoki, and decided he could beat him, so it turned into a legitimate bout.

Inoki spent the whole fight crawling around like a crab and kicking Ali's legs (to the point where he was eventually hospitalized with blood clots). Ali got frustrated enough that he was going to crawl on the canvas with Inoki. Dundee kept begging him not to, and finally begged Blassie to talk some sense into him. Blassie warned Ali that if he went on the canvas, he was going to have his arm or leg broken. Ali listened, and the fight went on its ridiculous way.

RIP Angelo.