THIS week’s Boxing News magazine is a special 56-page, expanded tribute to Muhammad Ali, filled with exclusive content from those who knew him best, including an interview with Ali’s cornerman Angelo Dundee, conducted before the trainer passed away.
Dundee explained how he got to know the man who would become Muhammad Ali: “I first met Muhammad way back in 1959 and he was 16 or 17 years old. I was with [future world light-heavyweight champion] Willie Pastrano while he was preparing to fight Alonzo Johnson in Louisville, Kentucky and I got a call: ‘My name is Cassius Marcellus Clay and I’m the Golden Gloves champion of Louisville, I won the gloves in Chicago, I won the gloves in Seattle and I’m going to win the Olympics.’ This was him; the energetic kid who wanted to talk to me because he had seen me on TV because I had about six fighters who would fight every other week on CBS back when we had public television. He wanted to talk to me because he was curious how I trained my fighters.
“I had no idea who he was because I never paid attention to the amateurs. I let him come up to the room and he came up with his brother Rudy and we had a conversation and it was beautiful. It was like a kid at school who wants to learn more, and Muhammad wanted to learn more about boxing…”
This is an extract from the full feature from Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee in this week’s special edition of Boxing News magazine, which also includes contributions from George Foreman, Ali’s opponents, the writers who followed Ali in his prime and more. The latest issue of Boxing News is now available to download HERE and the print edition will be in shops this Thursday.
