New York, Feb 2 (IANS) Angelo Dundee, the cornerman behind the success of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and 15 World Champions, passed away in Tampa, Florida, Wednesday. He was 90.
Dundee’s son Jimmy said he was hospitalised for a blood clot last week before returning to his apartment.
“He was coming along good yesterday and then he started to have breathing problems. My wife was with him at the time, thank God, and called and said he can’t breathe. We all got over there. All the grandkids were there. He didn’t want to go slowly,” Jimmy was quoted as saying by ESPN.
Dundee remained with Ali for most part of his six-decade-old career besides training 15 World Champions including Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Carmen Basilio and Jose Napoles. It was fitting perhaps that he went after attending Ali’s 70th birthday bash last month.
“It was the way he wanted to go,” Jimmy said. “He did everything he wanted to do.”
Out of all his accomplishments, Dundee will be most remembered for helping Ali win three heavyweight titles that included the legendary fights of “Thrilla in Manilla” with Joe Frazier in 1975 and the “Rumble in the Jungle” against Foreman in 1974. He guided Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, to his first heavyweight title in 1964 when Sonny Liston quit during the sixth round of their bout in Miami Beach.
Dundee was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994.
