It's always in the timing. Angelo Dundee has passed away just days after helping Muhammad Ali celebrate his 70th birthday,
At 90, it was time to go. But not before saying goodbye to the boxer of beauty whom he helped become The Greatest of all time.
To be truthful, which he always was, Dundee thought he had gone to Louisville to bid farewell to the ailing Ali. Not the other way around.
Days of glory: Angelo Dundee trains Muhammad Ali before the rematch with Henry Cooper in 1966
The man he had first met as a precocious boy called Cassius Clay is so afflicted by Parkinson’s disease that he can no longer speak. So Ali sat and listened happily as Dundee reminisced for both of them.
About the glory days. About when they were kings.
He talked at our emotional dinner party about shocking Sonny Liston and the whole wide world to win the heavyweight title for the first time; about the Fight of the Century against Joe Frazier; about the Rumble in the Jungle, when the fall of Big George Foreman caused another seismic tremor; about the Thrilla in Manila, when Ali finally doused the fire which raged in Smokin’ Joe.
He talked about the last time Ali had been able to join him in whispered conversation and had told him how he missed the fighting and the training and the hanging out with the old gang. And he joked: ‘If you’re serious about making a comeback, they’ll have to put in an escalator to lift me up to your corner.’
Farewell, Champ: Dundee at Ali's 70th birthday celebrations last month
Dundee needed a wheelchair to get out and about during the last few weeks before Thursday’s heart attack in Florida.
Ali smiled and laid his shaking hand on Angelo’s arm.
It was a touching moment during a long, nostalgic evening. In the end, Ali tired first and needed a wheelchair to take his leave even though, unlike Dundee, he had arrived on his feet and his wife Lonnie’s ever supportive arm.
Just as he always did down their decades together, the corner man tidied up after the champ. Dundee stayed chatting for a while about the old times, bringing all the brilliant memories sharply into focus before following Ali into the snowy January night.
They shook up the world: The then Cassius Clay and Dundee celebrate victory over Sonny Liston
They called him the greatest corner man of all time. They called him the finest motivator in the hard, old game. They called him the best friend a fighter could have.
He was all of that, the generous man of Italian descent who was born Angelo Mirena in Philadelphia in the summer of 1921. The man who changed his name to Dundee after his older brother Joe adopted it in honour of the world featherweight champion Johnny Dundee was also the cleverest protector of his boxers.
It’s always in the timing.
Mr Motivator: Dundee, pictured in 1971
When Our ’Enery Cooper flattened the then Cassius Clay with his famous left hook in the fourth round at Wembley in 1963, Dundee bent the rules by helping the future lord of the ring back to his corner. He was also said to have taken a razor to slit open a glove to buy minutes of extra recovery time.
In fact, he picked a little at a small, existing tear and it took no more than an extra six seconds for the referee to check that the glove was still usable.
Still, six precious seconds were enough for a revived Clay to come out and inflict the cuts on Cooper which fulfilled his prediction of a fifth-round victory.
Earning his corn: Ali is floored by Cooper in the fourth round, prompting Dundee's gamemanship
Far from complaining, Cooper later acknowledged Dundee’s handiwork, saying: ‘If ever I’m in that much trouble, I hope I have someone in my corner shrewd enough to do the same for me.’
It’s always in the timing.
In demand: Dundee advises Sugar Ray Leonard during The Super Fight against 'Marvelous' Marvin Hagler in 1987
Come Manila, more than a decade later, Ali was at the point of exhaustion after the most phenomenal 14 rounds most of us can remember.
Dundee was about to refuse permission for Ali to answer the bell for the last three minutes when he noticed his fellow Hall of Fame trainer, Eddie Futch, calling the referee to the opposite corner . . . and waited.
Frazier, although both his eyes were virtually closed, protested in vain as Futch retired him on his stool. Ali paid tribute to his bitterest rival with the most graphic words: ‘This is the closest to death I have ever been.’
Dundee was also the most sought-after of all corner men. Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pastrano, Carmen Basilio, Jose Napoles and George Foreman were among his 15 world champions. So was Sugar Ray Leonard, who turned professional with Dundee in his corner as Ali’s career was coming to its end — and with whom Angelo was to remind us most vividly of his motivational powers.
It’s always in the timing.
Leonard was losing a defining 1981 fight against Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns and as he sent him out for the last round, Dundee screamed in his ear: ‘You’re blowing it, son. You’re blowing it.’ Startled by the sudden change from Dundee’s customary calm, Sugar Ray duly exploded for the knockout.
It’s always in the timing.
An escalator to Ali’s corner? Mr Dundee is riding the elevator to the penthouse of the angels.
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